


A Devil's Wings

by The_Distorted_Shadow



Category: Sekirei, Shin Megami Tensei Series
Genre: Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Crossover, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-07
Updated: 2018-05-12
Packaged: 2019-05-03 07:30:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 25,579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14564061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Distorted_Shadow/pseuds/The_Distorted_Shadow
Summary: When Kashima Naoki returned to Tokyo to meet with his old teacher, he found something that existed outside of his previous experience. Now involved in a competition between aliens, he'll have to decide just how dangerous the situation is and whether or not the world needs the power of the Hitoshura once again.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone.  
> For those who haven't read my profile, this is actually something that has already been posted on Fanfiction.net for a while now.  
> And I just decided to post my things here as well.  
> Also, just to be clear, I put the rating as Mature just to be on the safe side more than anything else, so it might not be explicit enough for the rating, but I feel more comfortable with it anyway.  
> But anyway... I suppose I should just shut up and let you get on with the story.

A sigh escaped his lips as he looked over the gathered crowd.

How long had it been since that day?

Ten?  Twenty years?

He'd lost track of it all in the hustle and bustle of everyday life.

Not that it mattered, it wasn't like a decade or two was really worth that much to him.

Not when he knew from his 'friend' that despite looking like he did before that day, he was still the same as he was by the end of that day.

Leaving the store he had been window shopping through, he pulled out his phone and stared.

It had been a long time since he had left his family and he had put off speaking to them ever since… and all because of a single reason.

How was he supposed to explain to them why he still looked about fifteen years old when he was over double that age?

Sometimes being ageless was such a pain.

He let out a sigh as he started to tap the screen on the mobile communication device, at least there was one person he could always talk to whenever he was feeling down.

The phone rang for several tones, as he walked along the street, the new piece of technology pressed against his ear.

 _"Hello Naoki-kun,"_ he let out a smile upon hearing the voice of the woman that had put him into his current predicament, the woman that ended the world.

"Hello Yuko," his voice was soft, he still remembered the time he was one of her students at high school but their relationship had grown significantly since the recreation of the world as it was before being destroyed by her… she was his only human confident after all.

 _"Getting lonely again?"_ the feminine voice that came from the other side of the speaker was clearly sad, then again, she was the only person who remembered the world during the stage between its death and reformation.

"Yeah, sorry for disturbing you," he wouldn't lie to her, not when it was the conversations he had with her that had helped him cement his resolve to restore the world to the way it was before the conception.

 _"It's alright, I know how hard it is for you given your… circumstances,"_ she never spoke it out loud just in case anyone overheard but he didn't care, they were more than capable of talking with each other that way and fully understanding what the other was saying.

"Thanks, I would speak with my _other_ friends but they don't understand me the same way you do," that was an understatement if there ever was one… after all, he had a human heart and they didn't.

Not even the Pixie that had been with him since the beginning truly understood him, sure she tried to and learned how to interpret what he thought and felt but she didn't truly understand him in a natural way.

Though knowing she was there for him and willing to learn about humans to get closer to him was in itself something that made him happy.

 _"I know, they just don't think along the same lines as you do do they?"_ he smiled at that, Takao Yuko, his old teacher had always understood and trusted him… sometimes he had wondered just why she had put so much faith in him during the conception but he cleared his head of that thought, in the end the only answer that ever popped into his head was that her feelings for him were _not_ those of a teacher.

It didn't help that he could see it in her eyes whenever the met face to face, pain.

Was it the pain of knowing that she would eventually die and leave him without a confident?

Or was it the pain of someone looking at someone they loved suffer?

He didn't know but he hoped she didn't love him, because he knew they could never be together in that sense… he just knew his heart wouldn't be capable of surviving losing her if she was anything more than a confident.

Then again, it was that heart that had kept him human despite his demonic body.

 _"Where are you now?"_ her voice was soft as it usually was and he found a small, sad smile grace his lips as he remembered that she wouldn't be there forever.

"Shibuya," he answered easily as he continued to walk through the street.

 _"So you're back in Tokyo again,"_ he smiled wryly at that, it was something they both did, after all, it hadn't been long ago that the city had been renamed 'Shinto Teito' by that nutjob of a CEO, Minaka Hiroto… honestly, who buys out enough of a city that they're allowed to rename it?

"Yeah, I'm back, hopefully I'll manage to get a temporary job soon enough," that was pretty much the only type of job he could do… if he got anything permanent then he would run the risk of others noting his lack of aging and that would cause even more problems for him.

 _"Do you need any money or somewhere to stay?"_ her question was one he was used to receiving from her.  She knew that unlike her he couldn't hold down a job and tried to look out for him.

Sure he could have always become self employed… a repairman or something like that, however the problem was getting the training and qualifications to actually do a proper job of it.

After all, doing a proper job would result in him getting good reviews and getting good reviews was the key to succeeding in the independent market, especially with the Internet being even more popular than ever.

"I could do with somewhere to stay while I'm looking for some work," he admitted, he didn't want to commit any crimes since he could always have his image taken at some point.

Which would be very bad for him… after all, getting a criminal record of any kind could make him recognisable to people he would rather not be recognised by and could come to bite him in the ass if he was ever noted to have not aged at all since his previous picture… knowing that there was someone that didn't age would bring plenty of people after him… and the fact was he didn't want to slaughter everyone that went after him. 

 _"Will you be coming over right now?"_ her voice sounded hopeful and he just knew that she wanted him to stay with her, even if only for a couple of months.

"That depends, are you free now?" he asked, hoping that he wasn't going to inconvenience the only human he had any real connection to by coming around before she was ready for him.

 _"Yes, I just need to get a few things done first,"_ he immediately noted the sound of crinkling foil and had to let out a heartfelt chuckle, despite her calm and kind demeanour and the air of competence she gave off, her house was almost always a mess.

"It's alright Yuko, you know I already know how messy your place can get," he told her with amusement clear in his tone.

 _"I know… but I prefer it being clean when you come around,"_ her tone made it clear to him that she probably wanted to let herself feel like she made a good impression on him… whether as her student or something else wasn't something he was entirely certain of.

"Well, I'll be there in a little while, see you soon," he said as he walked towards the train station.

 _"Yes, see you soon Naoki-kun,"_ and with that the conversation finished and he looked up at the schedule before letting out a sigh.

Looks like he just missed the train.

 

XXX A DEVIL’S WINGS XXX

 

 Naoki walked along the street towards his old teachers house once again, his mind going over the fact that he was once again going to see her after the five years that had passed since he was last in Japan.

He idly wondered if she was surprised he hadn't mentioned that he was returning… then again, he had been travelling the world randomly ever since he had decided to leave the country for awhile.

He also wondered if her neighbours would recognise him from all his visits before he left… he expected they wouldn't given how he hadn't really visited her that often after graduating high school, instead just sporadically showing up and spending time speaking with the one person he could tell anything.

Looking at the street itself it was clear that not much had changed… except that the large house next door to his old teachers house was now advertising itself as an inn and that there was a woman standing outside the gate sweeping the pavement but outside of those minor differences, everything looked the same as it always did.

"Hello there, are you lost?" the woman sweeping the street asked casually, earning a strained smile from the man.

"No, I'm just going to see an old friend,"  he admitted.  It wasn't much of a problem, he could tell that this woman wasn't the same one that he had last seen at that house, for the last woman to live there was far older than the woman before him.

That was good, it meant that she wouldn't know him to be able to tell he hadn't aged.

"Oh?  I didn't know there were any children your age in this district," her smile was beatific but Naoki found himself narrowing his eyes as her tone spoke of suspicion… and he didn't like dealing with people acting suspicious around him.

"She isn't," he stated bluntly, "she was my old homeroom teacher, Takao Yuko."

"Oh, Takao-san is having a guest?  My, I hope she isn't toying with you," he felt his anger rising at that comment, while it was said with a hint of joviality that made it clear she wasn't being completely serious, there was an underlying note in her tone that made it clear she wasn't being entirely frivolous either.

"She is my closest friend and only confident… if you want to sling accusations around about immoral activities then I swear, I will make your life a living hell," he told her seriously, earning an amused smile off the woman.

"Oh?  It sounds to me like someone has a crush on their teacher," the woman was clearly saying that to try and get under his skin this time and not make accusations about Yuko herself.

And that completely changed how he felt about it.

"I don't know," he was slightly amused by the surprised look on the woman's face at that admission, "what I do know is that any romantic relationship between us wouldn't work out."

It seemed that his admission caught her off guard.

"Anyway, I'm going to be staying with her for a little while, I might see you around," he admitted, earning an amused smile off the woman.

"Oh?  And what do your parents think about that?" she asked him easily.

"It doesn't matter what they think," it was clear that she didn't agree, "and just so you know, I'm older than I look."

"Oh?  Then how old are you?" her voice was still holding its hint of amusement.

"Old enough to make my own decisions," he stated bluntly… he had no intention of letting this woman know he was in his thirties.

"Is that so, then you won't mind telling how old that is," she was clearly being nosy and he found himself deciding to simply end the 'conversation' there.

"Old enough to have graduated school," the look of surprise on her face was clear to him and it gave him a chance that he wouldn't miss, "now if you don't mind, I'm expected."

And without any further attempts at a conversation he proceeded to continue on to his old teachers home.

Walking up to the front door was simple and he had once wondered how she could afford to live in such a house on a teachers wage… and when he finally got up the courage to ask her she had told him and it all made much more sense.

It was her family home for three generations.

At least it had been until her grandparents died of old age and her parents had died in a car crash with a drunken driver.

Hearing that had made her inner cynicism and decision to end the world for it to be reborn much easier for him to understand… even if he personally didn't agree with that decision in the end.

He was just grateful she had come to the same decision after all their conversations in the vortex world and was happy that the world was the way it was now… even if it wasn't perfect, a world without freedom was a world without will and not a true world but a well oiled machine with no variables.

Yes he had given up stability for freedom.

Yes he had allowed for suffering in exchange for happiness.

Yes he had allowed for a broken world to be reborn.

So what?

In the end, he was prepared to accept the bad along with the good, he wouldn't let fear of the future drive him… and yes, he knew it sounded hypocritical to say that but the fact was that he wasn't afraid of the future, he just didn't want it to become irritating because he made mistakes when he was younger.

He let those thoughts leave his head as he rang the doorbell and stood waiting for the front door to open.

It only took a few seconds and he was greeted by the sight of the woman that had once destroyed the world.

Just as always, she wore surprisingly stylish clothes, giving her a far more modern feel than most other teachers he had seen.  Her shoulder length black hair was still as well kept as ever with not a single grey in sight, however her face was beginning to show signs of her age, with the odd wrinkle here and there… but in the end, he still thought she was beautiful.

"Hello Naoki-kun, it's been too long," and with her greeting he found himself getting hugged… a distinctly uncomfortable experience given how he had Masakados burrowed in his body and nullifying any sensation or damage he could get from physical contact.

It didn't stop him from returning the hug as lightly as he could… he didn't want to accidentally hurt her after all.

"Yeah, it has Yuko," he couldn't stop the smile from gracing his lips as he let those words leave his mouth, it really had been far too long since they had last met face to face after all.

Besides, he was planning on switching to another Magatama later, then he would be capable of actually _feeling_ any contact they had with each other.

"Well, are you coming in?" she asked him with an ecstatic smile spreading across her lips.

Without saying anything else he allowed himself to be led into the house and towards the main living area before once again turning towards her.

"Do you want anything to eat?" she asked him as he took a seat on one of her sofa's.

"I'm fine, I had something just a couple of hours ago," he admitted with a soft smile, it was always nice to know that there was still someone willing to look after him despite having to cut ties with most people.

He didn't even keep in touch with Isamu or Chiaki now.

And although Hikawa was aware of his existence, the man knew not to bother sending people after him after discovering the reality of the matter… after all, if he couldn't win a fight with a Reason-God on his side, how did he expect to win with nothing more than a few low level demons?

"Anyway, I'm going to change my magatama now," he informed the woman who gave him a nod of acceptance before turning away from him.

He still remembered the first time she had witnessed him swapping his Magatama over and the look of horror and disgust that appeared on her face said it all.

Then again, the Magatama weren't exactly a pleasant thing to put in your body, especially given the method of 'ingesting' them.

He pulled out one of the sleeping creatures, its body curled up into the shape that was its namesake before preparing it for swapping.

Almost immediately the 'thing' started to squirm before he held it up to his eye and prepared himself for what was to come.

The worm like entity quickly shot towards the exposed sensory organ and started to pierce his defences, forcing itself past the eye while repairing the damage caused by its passage before finding its target location and pushing Masakados out of place and forcing it to leave via the ocular organ.

It was a decidedly unpleasant experience but one he had grown used to over his time in the vortex world and it was most certainly nowhere near as painful as the first time he had found one burrowing its way into his skull… that time had knocked him out regardless of how tough he was as a person.

Looking at his hand that had caught the falling Magatama, Naoki found it quickly becoming inert and curling back up into the almost jewel like shape they always took when not active.

Putting the source of Demonic Power away, he wiped his eye of any blood that had managed to leak before speaking again.

"It's over," and with that she turned to face him once again.

He knew that she didn't like the method behind swapping magatama but she had already asked him to use one to make her a demon, if only to allow her to live alongside him… but in the end the creatures rejected her, something he had tried to contact his 'sponsor' about.

Unfortunately he had received no reply from the Fallen Angel and was simply forced to keep all his magatama on him instead of allowing himself some more permanent company.

He was brought from his thoughts as he _felt_ her wrap her arms around him once again and he proceed to return the hug just like he did the last time, this time finding the embrace comfortable instead of awkward.

It really was wonderful to be capable of feeling contact with someone important to him… sure he was more than happy to focus on the practicality of being immune to all forms of harm but this was one of the rare exceptions where he was willing to leave himself vulnerable.

And it was only because of how much he trusted the woman that held him that he was willing to do so at all.

“Are you two going to cling to each other all day?” he let out a small sigh at the voice that interrupted the tender reunion, though he would admit that the owner of it was easily his second best friend… even if she was nowhere near as understanding as his old teacher.

“It looks like Pixie is getting jealous,” he let out a small chuckle upon hearing that claim from Yuko.

“Hmph, I was pretty sure Naoki came here for reasons outside of you clinging to him like a limpet,” he almost let out a sigh at the aggression in his first demon partners voice… probably because it always ended up like that whenever the older woman was there.

The fact that it was entirely possible that Pixie really _was_ getting jealous wasn’t something he really bothered about, they were close and she did a good job of learning how to predict his thought patterns but in the end, the fact she had to work to understand him made their relationship stall at just friends.

Not that he had any problem with that, regardless of how hard she had to try to understand him, the simple fact that she was prepared to put that much effort into trying to understand him proved just how much she really cared for him.

It was just such a shame that they were too different in terms of how they felt emotions to truly connect to each other.

“Come on Pixie-chan, there is nothing wrong with hugging an old friend,” he stated softly, hoping the tiny fairy would leave it at that.

“Not when that’s all you do,” it seemed she was really getting jealous of the human woman given the tone of her voice and the expression on her face.

Then again, she was too small for him to comfortably hug so seeing him being so intimate with someone else was probably not the easiest thing for the red head to deal with.

“Fine then,” he gave in, honestly Pixie was his closest companion during his time in the vortex world and so she really was his best friend outside of Yuko, “Yuko, do you mind if I use your computer?”

“Of course not, feel free to use anything here,” her response was both expected and heart-warming... he knew he could always count on her to accept his presence regardless of the consequences.

“Thank you,” he silently vowed to try and keep his electricity, gas and food costs as low as possible for the woman… putting any of them up would reduce the amount of money she had to spend on herself and he most certainly didn’t want that.

But he needed to find a job and what better place to search than online?

He remembered back before the conception, the internet had been big… very big… but it was no longer simply big, now it was almost all encompassing, it permeated every aspect of life and connected to every phone, TV, computer and sometimes even things like microwaves.

The thought of there ever being an advertisement that didn’t exist online was now an alien one that Naoki found himself silently laughing at.

In the age of technology, knowing how to use it was essential to blending in and living a decent life.

And so he walked towards his former teachers computer, ready to search for job listings in Tokyo… sorry, Shinto Teito.

 

XXX A DEVIL’S WINGS XXX

 

Naoki had to admit, he hadn’t expected to get an interview as quickly as he did… though he had lied on his CV, making himself appear younger and less experienced than he really was, he had already discovered that being honest about those facts could result in him being thrown out of the interview for lying on his application.

It seemed to have gone well enough, he could honestly say that much, though just because the interview seemed to go well didn’t mean he was guaranteed to get the job, he had learned long ago that his _apparent age_ could get in the way of him being hired especially if they looked too deep into his history and discovered he was supposed to be thirty years old.

Sometimes he wished he had a method of creating new identities for himself but in the age of information connectivity, having a demon hypnotise one person wasn’t enough to alter all the information available on you.

He once again released a sigh as he continued to walk along the street and towards the northern district of the city, he could’ve taken a train or a bus but that would’ve cost money and he didn’t really have much more to do outside of continue his job hunting.

“Excuse me…” a small voice called from beside him causing him to pause and turn to face the owner.

“If you’re wondering where the nearest Cosplay convention is, then you’d be better off asking someone else,” he stated bluntly upon seeing the girl.

She was certainly cute, he would give her that, what with her cropped, light brown nearly blonde hair, the blue ribbon she wore and her youthful features, she didn’t look much older than he did… meaning she was probably in her mid-teens if his estimate was correct.

What made him think she was going to some sort of cosplay convention was the fact that she was wearing a thigh length, one piece dress with a black collar, black stockings, long black gloves and most importantly, had what was clearly a prop to go with the costume.

“Uh… actually… I lost my MBI card,” she muttered quietly and with what was clearly an embarrassed flush.

He took a few seconds to figure out the statement before remembering that MBI, the largest company in the world did credit cards alongside technology and pharmaceuticals.

“Well, I’m sorry about that but I’ve not seen one lying around anywhere,” he informed the girl bluntly before his ears caught something that immediately made it clear what the girl was after.

The small girl seemed to flush and make herself smaller as her stomach growled loud enough to be mistaken for a bear… and he actually did know what a bear sounded like given that time he was in Alaska and had come face to face with a Kodiak that had tried to eat him… it lost… badly.

“I see…” he stated before releasing a sigh, why did he have to be so soft? “fine, I’ll get you something to eat.”

And with that he picked up the girls prop, a very realistic, giant inflatable hammer which he quickly rested on his shoulder before noting the girls wide eyes.

“What?” he asked as she stared at him, “I’m just getting you something to eat before you start to starve, okay?”

“Ah, yes, thank you very much,” and with that she started to walk closer to him as he took her to a fast food place he used to visit regularly when he was still in high school, blushing all the way.

 

XXX A DEVIL’S WINGS XXX

 

Naoki was definitely regretting feeding the blushing girl, the way she was going through the food right now was just proof of how ludicrous her appetite was and how much it was costing him.

Honestly he was just grateful that he wouldn’t have to feed her on a regular basis.

But her appetite had given him pause and made him re-examine the ‘prop’ that he had carried all the way to the fast food place.

And he quickly realised that it _wasn’t_ a prop but a genuine hammer bigger than an average adult male… which just went to prove his suspicions that had been raised by the size of her appetite.

She wasn’t human.

There was just one question left.

“So, what are you?” he asked her bluntly, there was no reason to be subtle about it, not when she had no reason to continue hiding it from him.

“Huh?” she sounded surprised by his question so he decided to explain himself and show her why she didn’t have to hide it.

“The quantity of food you are eating is too great for a human to consume in a single sitting, no matter how hungry they are, the fact that you are not massively obese only reinforces the fact that your digestive capabilities are most likely not human,” he explained academically, “plus your hammer is far too heavy to carry as easily as you did with human musculature.”

She seemed to shrink in on herself after that brief explanation before asking her own question.

“Then how did you carry it so easily?” her question was perfectly valid and he had his own answer to that question since he had already had Pixie set up a barrier to prevent eavesdroppers.

“Because I’m not human,” her head jerked towards him as a shocked expression consumed her face, “at least, not anymore.”

That seemed to make her look at him as if he was something she had never heard of before.

“I was born a human but due to certain circumstances I became something else,” he admitted, there was no reason to hide his status as non-human from another non-human.

“But… but how?” she seemed shocked at his explanation for his own inhuman abilities.

“That doesn’t matter right now,” he stated seriously, “what matters, is what you are, if there are more of you and if you are a threat to this city.”

She seemed shocked by his questions and shrunk down even more at his demeanour.

“… I can’t tell you yet,” she sounded nervous and he wondered if it was a trait of her species that they flush all the time.

“Why not?” he asked calmly, he knew that there were times when someone chose not to pass on information not because they didn’t want to but because they had to withhold it for certain reasons.

“I… I can’t say…” she seemed terrified despite how red her face was.

“I see,” he acknowledged what she was saying before asking another question that had stuck in his head, “you mentioned that you cannot tell me yet, which implies that there are certain circumstances where telling me would be acceptable.”

She nodded her head which caused him to close his eyes before asking the important question.

“And what would I be required to do to fulfil that condition,” he asked, noting how she worried her lip at his question.

“Become my Ashikabi,” he frowned at that explanation since it didn’t actually explain anything at all.

“And what is an Ashikabi?” his question was obvious to anyone with any common sense.

“An Ashikabi is… and Ashikabi is our destined one,” he had to blink at that description, “the one person we will love unconditionally… the person our lives will be forever connected to.”

He could do nothing more than stare blankly at the girl as she started to gush over the concept of an Ashikabi before sighing in annoyance.

You couldn’t just become an Ashikabi and even if he could, it meant getting too close to a mortal that could very well die within the next hundred years.

“I see,” he admitted, honestly he felt that he had managed to get a decent enough picture of the girls personality to tell that she wasn’t a threat to the city unless this ‘Ashikabi’ of hers turned out to be an asshole, “in that case I will bid you farewell.”

He noted the look of shock on her furiously blushing face as he proceeded to rise from his seat ready to leave the establishment.

“Wait!” he froze at her desperate call, shocked at the terror in her voice as he was about to leave… he just couldn’t comprehend why she would be scared of him leaving.

“What is it?” he asked with a hint of irritation in his tone, the fact was that the girl wasn’t going to tell him anything else so their business had come to its conclusion.

“Please,” her voice was quivering as she started to make her plea, “please, become my Ashikabi.”

What?

“What do you mean ‘become your Ashikabi’?” he didn’t like where this was going, not one bit.

“You are my Ashikabi,” she stated with such conviction in her tone that he was left wondering how she could tell… unless…

“Your species is slightly psychic isn’t it?” his guess seemed to be spot on if her reaction to him was anything to go by, which she only acknowledged with a firm nod.

“Yes… we react when our Ashikabi is near,” react when their Ashikabi is near?  That was when it hit him.

“Do you mean the constant blushing and nervousness?” he asked her calmly, earning another nod off the girl.

He stood in silence as he noted how she was looking at him with both hope and fear on her features.

He didn’t want to become her Ashikabi, the thought of getting so close to someone was not something he was enthusiastic about, plus she wasn’t human so connecting with her would definitely be harder than it would be to do so with Yuko.

But in the end, he knew from experience that ignoring something like this could be dangerous… and so he made his decision.

“Alright, I will become your Ashikabi,” he told her seriously, earning a look of pure joy from the light haired girl.

“Thank you,” and with that the girl lean towards him in what he could only call an extremely forward gesture before meeting his lips.

That was when he knew something had gone wrong.

He felt his mana flowing through his mouth and into the girl before him, which he assumed was normal… what he didn’t believe was normal was the way her eyes shot open and veins of power started spreading across her body as she let loose an unearthly scream of pain.

If it wasn’t for the barrier Pixie had put up previously, he was sure the entire store would be panicking right then but thankfully he had already had the barrier deployed and none of the patrons would notice anything amiss.

Eventually though, the veins of energy erupted from her back in the form of two giant, raven like wings as her eyes turned blood red before she finally passed out on the ground.

“Pixie! Get us to Yuko’s place now!” he commanded before feeling the effects of the ability that had caused him so much trouble in Yoyogi park during the conception.

“Naoki-kun?  What’s going on?” he heard the one person he was closer to than anyone else say.

“No time to explain, check her vitals,” and with that his former teacher started to check over the girl that had somehow managed to absorb some of his demonic essence… explanations would come soon but the first thing he needed to do was ensure the girl survived the ordeal of absorbing a demons essence.

And then his phone rang.

 

XXX A DEVIL’S WINGS XXX

 

Things were going well.

The Sekirei were slowly being winged, fights were occasionally breaking out and new Sekirei were being released at regular intervals.

Everything was going perfectly as far as he was concerned.

Of course, he planned on speeding things up soon and then hopefully, the last of the Sekirei would be winged and the third phase could begin.

“Minaka-sama, your coffee,” he had to smile at that.

Gabby Conway, thirty-three years old, half Japanese and half Welsh of all things.  She was probably in his top five greatest discoveries alongside The Sekirei, Takehito and Takami.

The reason was simply due to how perfect she was at her job of being a secretary, always bringing him his coffee just when he needed it, always bringing it at just the right temperature and that was simply how she did with his coffee… her other skills were just as impressive as her coffee bringing skills.

And that’s not even getting into the fact that she was the one that inspired the Sekirei Plan itself, a few little sentences that he had taken out of context and used to create the ultimate game with the ultimate prize!  Ascension to godhood!

But beyond all of that, there was another thing that made her stand out… Karasuba.

Karasuba was easily the second most dangerous being he had ever met, a bloodthirsty monster that could singlehandedly wipe out armies with nothing but a Nodachi… and despite all the body language saying she was terrified of the blood soaked Sekirei, her eyes _never_ showed any fear towards the grey haired alien.

She was only ever pretending to be afraid of Karasuba, never actually afraid of the sword wielding maniac.

So he knew that his secretary would manage to stay calm and do whatever was necessary no matter how dangerous the situation, after all, how was she going to panic if she didn’t feel fear in the first place?

“Thank you Conway-chan!” he responded enthusiastically as he accepted the coffee and took a sip of it, earning a smile from the woman that didn’t reach her eyes, not that that was surprising, the woman did go through a lot of motions whenever he saw her, “perfect as always.”

“I live to serve Minaka-sama,” her words could easily be taken out of context but Minaka didn’t care, he had no interest in her like that, the only woman he ever wanted to be with was Takami… of course, given her harsh attitude towards him and the fact she wouldn’t let him see his children… well, he was at least grateful that she was prepared to stay on for the Sekirei.

He was interrupted from his thoughts by the sound of an email getting through and he immediately went to open it, after all, with the Sekirei plan ongoing, most of his emails right now were updates on Ashikabi and the circumstances of the plan itself.

“Let’s see…” he mumbled to himself as he read the information on the file, “looks like we have a new Ashikabi!”

“Oh? Is that so?” Gabby seemed interested, then again, she had always been rather interested in the Sekirei in general, so it wasn’t a surprise to him that she was curious.

“Now, he looks interesting,” he admitted with a bit of a grin, “looks like this Ashikabi has travelled the world and never kept a job for more than six months in the past twenty years.”

“He sounds like quite the bad worker,” his secretary stated with a hint of disdain in her tone.

“Except for the fact that he only ever worked temporary jobs with a six-month contract,” he informed her and noted the way her eyebrow rose at that, “he’s worked all over the world, in all sorts of jobs and with all sorts of people.”

“So he’s a wanderer then?” she seemed a little surprised by that information and he just gave her a grin.

“Yes, he’s a wanderer named Kashima Naoki,” his mind raced upon saying that name, not because of the name itself but because of something that caught him by surprise.

Gabby Conway looked like she always did, her posture firm, her face set into a soft smile and her clothing and hair presented with a professional neatness.

What wasn’t right were her eyes.

For the first time ever, he was seeing raw, genuine _fear_ in those eyes.

This definitely looked like it was interesting, the idea that there was someone that could strike fear into the hearts of the fearless was enough to wet his thirst for knowledge.

“Well, I suppose it’s time to welcome Kashima-san to the Sekirei Plan,” he said with his usual grin adorning his face as he started his usual routine of contacting the new Ashikabi.

It was time to see just what sort of person he was dealing with.


	2. Chapter 2

“Congratulations!!!” Naoki found himself about to growl as a man he recognised as the head of MBI yelled out of the phone as a video call was established, “since you have winged a Sekirei, you are hereby entered into the Sekirei Plan!”

The demonic man simply found himself staring bluntly at the man that just casually revealed that he was aware of the existence of this non-human species.

“Uh… who are you?” the white haired president of one of the world’s most powerful conglomerates suddenly asked upon opening his eyes.

“Kashima Naoki,” he responded bluntly, earning a confused look off the man.

“I think I’ve gotten the wrong number,” the over dramatic billionaire muttered to himself.

“Is this call to do with the non-human girl that decided to bond herself to me earlier?” he asked the man with his temper still short despite the girl apparently being stable.

“I see… so you really are Kashima Naoki,” the man seemed shocked before he shook his head and gave a grin, “you look incredibly young for your age, what’s your secret?”

“Worms,” he stated bluntly, earning a grimace from the man.

“I think I’ll avoid that diet then,” the man seemed incredibly put off by that statement before he put his smile back on and then started to spout out what he had called for, “now, since you’ve successfully winged a Sekirei, you are now a participant in the Sekirei plan!”

“And what is this Sekirei Plan?” he asked with narrowed eyes.

“It is a competition for ascension!” the white haired man stated with a grandiose wave of his arms, “a ritual to welcome a new age of gods!”

It was official, Naoki hated this man already.

“Go fuck yourself,” he stated bluntly, earning a sudden unbalancing of the man that was calling him.

“Do you have any idea what you’re trying to reject?” the white haired man asked with a grin.

“Look little man,” Naoki stated with a small growl entering his throat, “the gods are still here, you’re just lucky enough that they aren’t paying you any attention.”

“Ouch, I don’t think I’ve ever talked to anyone as harsh as you before,” the bespectacled man admitted with a grin, “but never the less, you’ve been entered into the Sekirei plan regardless of your intentions!”

“Do you want to die Minaka?” he asked the man calmly, “because if you want to then it could easily be arranged.”

“Haaaa… look Kashima-kun,” the man started to say in a disappointed tone, ”just because you are now the partner of a superpowered alien doesn’t mean you are suddenly the biggest person in town.”

He found himself internally laughing at the man making the assumption that he was confident because of the alien he had bonded to.

“You’re a fool Minaka,” he stated calmly, “do you really think I’m confident because of something you’ve apparently given me?  It’s only natural that you would put safeguards in place to stop them being used against you.”

That seemed to make the man pay attention again.

“Well, I suppose you seem a little smarter than I was expecting,” the white haired man stated with a curious expression now adorning his face, “but that just raises the question of exactly why you are so confident.”

“I’ve dealt with _far_ worse than you,” he stated bluntly, “trust me, if it wasn’t for me, then the world we live in right now would be _very_ different.”

That was most certainly not a lie, if it hadn’t been for him literally forcing an aspect of The Great Will to remake the world the way it had been before the conception then it would still be a barren wasteland filled with ghosts and demons, or it would have taken on a form that would be unrecognisable to the people that lived here.

“Now, like I said before, you can go fuck yourself with your new age of gods bullshit,” he continued, “but if I find out you’re trying to upset the balance of this world… then I will find you and I will destroy you.”

And with that, he hung up on the man that had been infuriating him.

“That man has no idea what he’s talking about,” he let out a soft smile upon hearing Yuko’s disdainful statement.

“Yeah, he doesn’t,” he acknowledged, “so, how is she?”

“Her vitals are steady, her breathing is regular and she seems to be sleeping off whatever happened,” she answered him before turning to look him in the eyes, “what happened to her?”

“Her species seems to have some form of psychic bond,” he stated, knowing that she would have already come to understand the general situation due to his conversation with the idiot that had phoned him, “she tried to form hers with me and drew in some of my essence.”

“I see,” the teacher stated calmly, “why did you accept the bond?”

“Obligation,” he admitted easily, even after all this time, he still remembered that promise he had once made.

“Masakados?” he nodded, he had once promised the deity that he would protect the city he was currently in and despite having to travel all over the world due to his circumstances, he had no intention of abandoning the duty passed onto him.

“Well, she isn’t in any danger so we should just let her rest for now,” the older of the duo stated calmly, “we can try and figure out what’s happening once she wakes up.”

“Yeah,” he acknowledged as he once again looked at the now sleeping girl, “but let’s be careful, that Minaka guy didn’t seem too happy about me blowing him off.”

The smile she gave him in response to that was filled with amusement.

“You forced an aspect of The Great Will to rebuild this universe, one ignorant billionaire isn’t going to be a threat,” he would admit that she had a point, given his current level of power, he was pretty sure he could survive a Hydrogen Bomb, but that didn’t mean _she_ could.

“It’s not me I’m worried about,” he admitted while looking at her.

“Naoki, I trust you to make sure nothing will happen to me,” she informed him with a soft smile, “so I’m not afraid of one ignorant billionaire.”

He wasn’t sure what to think of that.  He was happy that she trusted him but he didn’t want her to be so overconfident that she would get captured or hurt because she trusted him too much.

“Thank you,” he responded with a soft smile, “but please don’t put yourself at risk... I don’t know what I’d do if you got hurt because of me.”

“I promise,” her response made him smile before he looked back at the sleeping girl before deciding he should probably follow her example and get some rest.

That’s not to say he was particularly tired but he had long since grown to enjoy the act of sleeping whenever he got the opportunity… it helped the years fly by much faster after all.

And so he sat on a comfy chair and closed his eyes.

“Sorry Yuko, I’m going to have a nap now,” he said as he essentially using sleeping magic on himself, causing him to lose consciousness though not before hearing her response.

“Pleasant dreams.”

It was such a shame he had stopped dreaming long ago.

 

XXX A DEVIL’S WINGS XXX

 

Minaka was growing rather giddy as he thought about everything that was happening right now.

His secretary had been in the room when he had made his call to Kashima Naoki and the more he spoke, the more the fear in her eyes grew, especially when Kashima threatened him.

Clearly the boy was more than he looked and Gabby knew just what he was dealing with.

Of course, she didn’t speak up, which only made him feel even more curious, she had never been one to worry about anything before and had calmly offered suggestions that had helped inspire his current decisions.

The best part was the realization that he was being played.

Gabby had never displayed any concern about anything before and now, all of a sudden, a man who was nearing his forties but looked like he wasn’t even out of high school had shown up and she was scared.

It made him wonder if she was really as young as she claimed to be.

Ah… if only he still had access to the number zero two, then he could make use of her abilities to dig through the information and discover any traces of tampering by the end of the day.

Oh well, it wasn’t like he couldn’t do it himself but it would’ve been far more efficient to have the Sekirei do it for him.

“You wanted to see me Director-sama,” he smiled upon seeing number one oh five standing before him, he had given instructions to the Disciplinary squad to go and ‘talk’ with Kashima-san, if just to keep up appearances but Benitsubasa was the one that was going to play the most important part of the meeting.

“Indeed I did number one oh five,” he said with a wide grin adorning his face, “I just wanted to tell you something important, something I expect you to keep quiet from everyone else… including your Ashikabi.”

The look of shock and uncertainty that was contained in her eyes was enough to tell him how conflicted the pink haired Sekirei was, she was loyal to MBI without a doubt, however she was a firm believer in the bond between a Sekirei and their Ashikabi so asking her to keep a secret from her Ashikabi was like telling her to sit in an electric chair and await execution.

“Don’t feel too upset number one oh five,” he said with a grin plastered on his face, “all I want you to do is be yourself when facing this new Ashikabi.”

That seemed to confuse the Sekirei and he knew exactly why, normally she was told to keep her cool and try to not lash out at the Ashikabi she was supposed to be dealing with.

To be told that she didn’t need to do that was strange at best.

“W-why are you asking that of me?” she was shocked and he decided to take a more serious expression than he usually liked to, it was always so much less stressful to just keep a smile on his lips.

“This Ashikabi mocked my dream,” he stated firmly, “he mocked the Sekirei Plan and displayed a disdain for me and everything important to me… and with his criminal record I find myself feeling it is unlikely he won’t try and use his new Sekirei for personal gain.”

It was all a lie of course, he didn’t really care that the boy mocked his dream since he now had the impression that it wasn’t even his idea in the first place, and Kashima had probably the cleanest record he had ever seen, so he doubted the boy planned on using his Sekirei for personal gain.

And that’s not even including the fact that the boy didn’t seem even remotely scared of the idea of superpowered aliens running about the city and potentially targeting him.

It was almost like he was dealing with a version of Gabby Conway that didn’t pretend he was scared.

“So you want me to kill him?” the pink haired Sekirei asked in surprise, he had never displayed any signs of wanting anyone dead before so why was he starting now.

“Oh no, I don’t want him dead,” he said overly dramatically, “I’m just prepared to cover up any… unfortunate accidents that may occur during your meeting with him.”

The smile he gave her said everything he wanted it to as she bowed before him and left to deal with the newest Ashikabi.

 

XXX A DEVIL’S WINGS XXX

 

Naoki awoke to the sound of the doorbell ringing, much to his annoyance.

Sure he could’ve easily slept through it if he had put more power behind his magic (he still remembered the time he had gone to the Middle East and woke up to discover he’d been hit by a few mortar shells during an artillery strike) but since he was here with others he had opted to make the magic light.

Looking over to the sofa he saw that the non-human girl was still sleeping despite the doorbell ringing… and on his other side he was greeted by the sight of a tiny redhead in a blue leotard.

“Hey Pixie,” he said as he rose from the chair and prepared himself to go and answer the front door.

“Hello there, how may I help you?” his old teachers voice called out as he heard the door open.

“Hello Takao-san, my name is Ichinomi Natsuo, a representative of MBI,” the voice said in a calm and collected manner, “is Kashima Naoki available?”

Naoki walked over to the door, ready to intervene if things went south and came into sight while giving the visitor a once over.

He was tall, well dressed, had dark hair, an effeminate face and an empty smile adorning his face.

Behind him though were a pair of young women, both who were wearing some form of leather ensemble, though one had her zipper mostly pulled down revealing a large number of bandages instead of skin.

The one with bandages also had a gloomy look in her eyes and whitish grey hair that spiked all over the place, while the other one was rather petite but had long pink hair tied into a ponytail that fell down the side of her head.

“So I take it the girls are Sekirei,” he found himself stating bluntly, it was unlikely they were normal human teenagers after all.

The older man blinked before releasing a sigh.

“Didn’t anyone tell you that you’re not supposed to let others know about this?” the visitor asked with his fake smile still on his face.

“No, but even if they did, it’s hard to keep it a secret when your boss goes yelling about it over a video call,” he stated bluntly in response to that question.

Natsuo seemed surprised by that response but quickly recovered with a smile.

“I see, then I guess I’ll have to tell him to be more careful,” the strange man stated easily as Naoki walked up to the front door and finally passed his old teacher.

“Is that all you came here for?” he asked the strange man easily.

“Well, I’m here because you’re not being very cooperative,” and here they were at the crux of the matter.

“And I don’t intend on cooperating regardless of what you say,” he answered easily, even though he was still using Marogareh due to staying with his old teacher, he could tell from the analysis ability he had never lost from his early days that the two Sekirei standing behind the man were not even close to being strong enough to hurt him, let alone inflict any actual damage.

Admittedly he rarely ever used that ability and it was honestly surprising for him to see that the superpowered creatures he was currently looking at were actually registering as lower than a standard Pixie in terms of pure power.

Not that he let that surprise show on his face, after all, it was simply another thing that helped reinforce his confidence that he could crush this man if he ever tried anything.

“You know that it would’ve been smarter for you to come with your Sekirei if you were going to go against us,” the dark haired man stated with a sigh.

“She’s still sleeping off the winging… though I suppose you are right,” he admitted with a sigh of his own, “I’m far too much for you to handle after all.”

It took a couple of seconds for the visitors to process that statement and he was greeted by the pinkette suddenly turning red from anger and waving her fist at him.

“WHAT THE HELL DID YOU SAY?!!!” she was clearly not happy that he had dismissed her as a threat but given just how little power she had, he felt it was a perfectly acceptable situation.

“I said that she’s still sleeping off the winging,” he responded with the part that he knew would cause the most anger in the smallest of the group but he was surprised when the only male of the group put a hand in front of her.

“What do you mean by that?” the man sounded interested and that made it clear that the Winging wasn’t supposed to be as violent as it was with the young girl.

“Nothing you need to worry about,” he responded easily before noting the sigh that the man gave.

“If something went wrong then we need to check out the Sekirei,” Natsuo stated a little more seriously than normal and Naoki found himself immediately distrusting this version of the man even more than the normal one.

“No, I want you to leave now,” he informed the stranger bluntly.

“And so do I,” Yuko stated from her position over his shoulder.

Then his awareness caught track of a rage fuelled fist heading straight towards his face, courtesy of the little pink haired girl.

He didn’t bother dodging.

His eyes then shot open upon hearing a firm cracking sound from the impact zone and his mind started to wonder, had she been stronger than he had thought?

Her fist remained on his cheek for a couple of seconds as he tried to figure out why there wasn’t any pain… before she jerked her hand away from him and started to cradle it.

“GAAHHH!!! D-DAMMIT!!!” he had to look on in surprise at the little girl as she practically started to cry as she looked at her fist, “h-h-h-how?”

Her voice finally decreased as she looked at her now quickly bruising fist with teary eyes.

“Hey?  What happened Washboard?” the bandaged one with the claws asked in surprise and Naoki found himself suddenly feeling a little more sympathetic towards the pink haired girl… if that was how she’d been treated growing up then it wasn’t that much of a surprise that she had such a short temper.

“Bastard broke my fist!” he felt himself releasing a sigh at that declaration, especially since if he had Masakados equipped she wouldn’t have broken her hand on his face due to the very nature of nullification.

“And _how_ did he break your fist?” the grey haired woman asked with an amused tone.

“How the hell should I know?!” she was definitely angry and in pain given the high pitched nature of her current shouts.

Naoki was about to open his mouth when another voice cut in.

“Is there a reason you are harassing my neighbour?” he noted the way the dark haired man suddenly looked almost scared at hearing that voice before looking past the group and seeing the woman with light purple hair that he had spoken to earlier.

“Who the hell are you?!” the pink haired girl growled out through her teeth before the only male of the group interrupted.

“Benitsubasa,” the man sounded serious now as he snapped at the girl, “hello Asama-san, are we disturbing you?”

“I believe you’re disturbing my neighbour more,” her response was clearly threatening despite the sweet tone she took with them.

“Well, unfortunately we were sent by the director due to his refusal to cooperate… surely you understand?” the man stated calmly now that he had had a few seconds to regain his composure, “and he even went so far to _not_ send the _other_ member of the squad just to minimize any disturbance that might affect you.”

It was clear that there was some history with the woman and the conglomerate but that didn’t change what his analyse ability told him about the woman.

She was more than twice as powerful as both of the other women _combined_.

The simple fact of the matter was, that if they tried to fight her they would be slaughtered before they could even react… provided this purple haired woman wanted to kill them that is.

It didn’t change the fact that she was still weaker than a standard pixie though.

“Oh?  Well, even if that is the case I would like to ask that you leave before my patience with your company wears thin,” the fact she could say that with such an angelic smile on her face didn’t surprise him… the Angels had joined Chiaki on her homicidal rampage in the Vortex World after all.

That seemed to make the man swallow nervously as he clearly made a quick decision.

“Well, the director won’t like this but I suppose we’ll just have to respect your stance on the matter,” the man was still wearing his fake smile as he looked at the two Sekirei with him, “Benitsubasa, Haihane, it is time for us to leave.”

“What?!” the pink haired girl seemed shocked by the sudden change in their mission if her sudden question was anything to go by.

“Kay,” the grey haired woman seemed much easier going about it, “besides, that guy gives me the chills.”

“Oh?” the older man sounded surprised as they started to walk pass the purple haired woman, “why’s that?”

“His eyes remind me of Kuro-chan,” well, her response made no sense to him but then again, it was obvious she was talking about someone he didn’t know.

“… Yeah, though it’s not quite the same,” and with that the three entered a vehicle as the pink haired girl continued to make a ruckus over leaving so soon.

There was one thing he needed to say though.

“Hey!  Benitsubasa!” he called out, causing the pinkette to turn to him with a still angry face as she continued to hold her hand, “sorry about your hand.”

That seemed to leave the pink haired girl speechless, then again, it wasn’t like they were doing what they were out of malice… they’d just been sent by their boss to deal with someone that wasn’t cooperating.

Plus, if he had had Masakados equipped then she wouldn’t have broken it in the first place.

The fact that he could dismiss such casual violence was something he shoved to the side as a side effect of being a demon but he wasn’t really complaining, it’s not like she could’ve harmed him even if she had tried and he’d spared far more dangerous foes before.

“Naoki-kun… you do realize it was her own fault for trying to punch you don’t you?” Takao said with an amused grin as the Pinkette scowled and entered the car.

“Oh my, I hope you aren’t hurt,” the woman from next door said with a worried expression adorning her face.

“Yes I am, thank you for your concern Asama-san,” he responded with a grateful smile, “and thank you for convincing them to leave.”

“It’s not a problem, I have some rather… unpleasant history with MBI myself,” she seemed rather distasteful of the company as a certain undercurrent infected the entire sentence.

“Well, I’m sorry to have to cut our conversation short Asama-san, but there are a few things I need to get to now that I’ve been woken by those unwelcome visitors,” he decided to end the conversation there and see how _his_ Sekirei was doing… it was strange to think of her as his, since even the demons he had contracted were his allies as opposed to belonging to him.

“I see, then I hope to see you later…” she trailed off at the end and he quickly came to the conclusion that she was looking for a name.

“Kashima Naoki,” he informed her easily, “and may I get your name Asama-san?”

“Oh?  Asking a young widow for her name,” she was clearly teasing him and he found himself shrugging in response.

“Well then, I suppose I’ll just make do with Asama-san,” and with that he turned his back on the superpowered alien with a sword at her hip before hearing her speak up again.

“My, you certainly are hard to tease,” the woman sounded rather put out by that fact but quickly continued, “Miya, my name is Asama Miya.”

“I see, then I guess I’ll see you later Asama-san,” he continued to use the more formal form of address as he entered the house and made his way back to the lounge as Yuko proceeded to enter her own conversation with her neighbour.

As he entered the room, he was greeted by the girl he had shared a kiss with not that long ago now awake and sitting with her head held low.

“So, you’re finally awake,” he called out as she proceeded to look at him in confusion and sadness, “are you feeling all right?”

“I… I feel strange,” she was clearly unused to the power that had been passed into her body, just as he had when he had first woken up after having Marogareh burrow into his skull.

“That will likely be my power now that it’s flowing through your body,” he stated calmly as he looked at her.

Honestly she didn’t look any different to how she did before, but he knew that looks could be deceiving, after all, no-one expected him to be a demon given just how human he looked.

His analysis ability told him that she was definitely at least comparable to demons now, though she was probably still only comparable to him as he was when he first woke up in the Shinjuku Medical Centre.

Of course he had grown to the point that he was strong enough to kill Thor in a fist fight and force the Great Will to recreate the Universe as it was before it destroyed it so her starting off so weak wasn’t really something to worry about if she had his own growth rate.

“Your power?” she sounded surprised by his claim and he decided to enlighten her.

“I told you I’m not human anymore,” he stated easily, “when you kissed me some of my power flowed out of me and into you, your body has most likely changed to better accommodate that power.”

“W-what is this power?” she sounded confused as she looked at her hand like she didn’t even know it anymore.

“… I’m going to need you to listen and not freak out,” he told her calmly, earning a widening of her eyes as she nodded in confirmation, “it is Demonic Power.”

“Demonic Power?” she sounded almost confused before closing her eyes and breathing deeply, “I think I see.”

He was surprised by how calm she was actually being right now.

“You seem awfully calm about this,” he said with a small grin at her current reaction.

“I am your Sekirei and you are my Ashikabi…” she stated it as if that explained everything, “I can feel your heart, I know you don’t love me, just as I know you are a kind person but that you enjoy fighting.”

He didn’t try to deny any of it, after all, it was all true.

Though he only really enjoyed fighting when the foe was a challenge, that situation made him feel alive… slaughtering the weak only made him bored and make him wonder how much of a waste those deaths were.

It was probably why he looked down on humans so much now, none of them could give him a good fight and many of them didn’t truly apply themselves to anything they could do.

“And as your Sekirei, I will accept you for everything you are,” she informed him with a bright smile, “just as I hope to one day earn your love.”

“Good luck with that,” he stated with a grin, “because you’ve got some pretty stiff competition.”

“As long as I can earn your love, I don’t care how many others share in that love,” he felt his eyes widen at that claim… was she seriously saying she was fine with him having multiple partners?

Now if she was a natural demon then he could understand that without any issues, after all, most demons were physically incapable of love… attraction and seduction yes, but not actual love, but she _wasn’t_ a natural demon and seemed to consider love above everything else… so he had been expecting her to be the jealous girlfriend type.

Honestly, this had probably been the one thing that had caught him the most flat footed in the last decade.

“I see,” it was all he could really say as he shook his head to clear his thoughts once again.

This girl was something completely alien to everything he had ever known… which he supposed was quite amusing given how Minaka had said she _was_ an alien.

“So you’re awake,” he looked over his shoulder to see Yuko standing at the entrance to the lounge now that she had finished whatever conversation she was having with her neighbour.

“Um… yes, thank you, uh…” the girl sounded both grateful and uncertain.

“Takao Yuko,” the oldest person in the room stated with a soft smile, “may I know your name?”

“Ah… my name is Yashima,” she sounded uncertain about how much to give out from what Naoki could tell.

“Don’t worry about hiding anything from Yuko, she overheard that idiot of a director when he video called me,” he informed the girl who released a sigh of relief.

“That’s good to hear, I wasn’t sure I could keep everything a secret if we were around her too long,” well, at least Yashima was honest about it.

“Don’t worry about it,” he informed her easily, “Yuko probably knows even more than me about everything.”

“That’s not true,” her response was calm and composed as she continued to watch him with an amused smile on her face.

“Yuko, you’re the one that taught me everything I know,” he informed her calmly.

“No, I taught you how to learn and think about things,” he honestly considered that proof that she had taught him everything he knew, because without her tuition he would’ve likely never have learned anywhere near as much as he did throughout his life.

“Exactly,” he decided to answer it like that and after processing what he had just said she started to laugh lightly, “so, I take it you’ve figured out that Asama-san is a Sekirei.”

“It’s hard not to given what I’ve just seen,” her answer was expected, “I always knew she wasn’t human but I was never able to identify what she was until now.”

“Uh… who’s Asama-san?” Naoki’s own Sekirei asked curiously.

“My next door neighbour,” the older of the two women stated easily.

“You’d better not plan on adding her to your collection,” he heard the voice of Pixie speak up as Yashima blinked in confusion before looking at the tiny girl.

“Uh… hello?” the Sekirei seemed uncertain about how to respond to the fairy but was trying to be at least amicable.

“Don’t mind Pixie, she’s one of my oldest friends,” he decided to inform the alien who simply looked a bit more certain now that she was being told the little redhead was a friend.

“Hello there Pixie, I’m,” she was about to introduce herself before the Fae cut her off.

“Yashima,” the little girl in the blue leotard sound very unhappy to be speaking with the far shyer girl., “I heard,”

The brown haired girl looked very put out by the rather hostile reaction from Pixie but he decided to let her know the most important thing about living with Pixie.

“Don’t take it personally Yashima,” she perked up at hearing his voice, “Pixie is just like that with every girl I speak to… and you should’ve seen her that one time I called Parvati my girlfriend.”

“You called Parvati your girlfriend?” Yuko sounded amused at his claim.

“Uh, excuse me, who’s Parvati?” the newly winged Sekirei asked in confusion.

“Hindu Goddess of Love,” he dismissed off handedly before continuing his story, “… I sort of slept through an artillery strike and was woken up by the rescue team… when they asked how I was unharmed… well… Parvati was on hand and the excuse of having a wild night was a bit too tempting to pass up.”

“Hmph!” Pixie didn’t seem too happy about that particular situation so he decided to tease her a little too.

“Come on Pixie, you’ve been my main influence over the decades,” he commented easily, “so in the end it was actually your fault I did that.”

“... Shut up Naoki,” she stated with a pout, clearly unhappy at being accused for his decision to use an excuse like that.

“Hehe,” he heard Yashima starting to giggle and found himself smiling slightly at her quick acceptance of the new situation she was now stuck in and how easily she was adjusting to his and Pixies antics.

He stopped his train of thought there before boarding a new one.

She most likely didn’t _need_ to adjust so quickly.

He hadn’t been thinking about it since there had been other more important issues to deal with in the moment but Yashima had absorbed and assimilated some of his power.

That actually made her something similar to himself, a Hitoshura but instead of having a human base she had a Sekirei as a base.

She wanted to earn his love and from what he had gathered of their previous conversation, she loved him already due to her very biology.

He swallowed as that realization sunk in for the first time since he had winged her.

She loved him, could understand him due to her ability to feel his heart and most importantly… she wouldn’t die like Yuko eventually would.

“Naoki-kun?  Are you all right?” his old teacher asked as he let his emotions slip,

“Y-yeah, I’m all right,” he let out uncertainly, “it’s just sunk in just what being an Ashikabi means.”

The smile he got from the young alien was radiant as she cupped his face much to his surprise.

“Yes… we’ll be together… forever,” she said with a gentle voice full of _love_ as he felt that same love flowing through the bond they shared.

And for the first time since realizing he wasn’t going to age… he found himself praying to Lucifer that this relationship would work.

…… Well it’s not like he was going to pray to God, that guy was the biggest dick he knew of after all.

 

XXX A DEVIL’S WINGS XXX

 

Minaka couldn’t stop himself from thinking on the report he had received from the Disciplinary Squad and one oh five in particular.

She had punched Kashima Naoki in the face and instead of dodging or anything even remotely reasonable, he had simply ignored it as Benitsubasa hit him… and broke her fist in the process.

Now he knew he was being played like a pawn, there were clearly higher forces involved that he didn’t even know about and Kashima was considered a threat on that level.

The idea that there were beings more powerful than the Sekirei was intimidating, exciting and explained why Gabby was unafraid of Karasuba… because she was most likely so powerful that the Sekirei didn’t stand a chance against her in a fight.

It also explained Kashima’s statement to him, “ _Look little man, the gods are still here, you’re just lucky enough that they aren’t paying you any attention”_.

He had to grin at that idea, to think that the gods still walked the Earth and he didn’t even realize it!

And from what he had just discovered, it seemed that these gods were as far beyond Sekirei as Sekirei were beyond humans… if not more so.

“It seems you were wrong Kashima-kun… it would seem that the gods _are_ paying attention to me,” he muttered to himself with a grin as he decided it was time to try and research something he had never put any stock in before… perhaps the Occult would give him some clue as to what role he was unknowingly playing.

 

XXX A DEVIL’S WINGS XXX

 

Gabby Conway entered a small room hidden off from the rest of MBI as her mind raced after hearing the report from the Disciplinary Squad.

There was no doubt in her mind at all now, it was _him_.

And there was no way Minaka would ignore the fact that the pink haired pawn had broken its hand on the demons face, that was simply too obvious.

She had spent so long keeping the Director of the company in the dark of what was really going on, of the true nature of the Sekirei plan she had inspired but now he was going to start questioning things and with his inherent genius, there was no guarantee he wouldn’t eventually discover the answers to the questions he would ask.

 **“Why have you called for me,”** the power behind the voice that appeared behind her was unquestionable but that was to be expected given who the owner of the voice was.

“We have an issue,” she admitted, “the Hitoshura has become an Ashikabi.”

Silence reigned as she felt the phantom pain that still plagued her existence from the last time she had encountered the human turned demon.

 **“Continue to monitor the situation,”** the one behind this plan stated firmly, **“should it prove an obstacle, then I shall deal with it myself.”**

She couldn’t stop herself from swallowing in nervousness at that claim, despite the power of the one that was before her right now, the Hitoshura had grown from a normal human to a being powerful enough to force an aspect of the Great Will to bend to his will in less than a week… there was no telling just how powerful he had become in the past twenty years.

“What should I do if he should act against us?” she asked, praying that such a thing wouldn’t happen.

 **“Run, you were no match for him when you were at full power,”** she flinched at that statement knowing it was the truth, **“with your early recreation, your power is worthless against such a foe.”**

“And what of _him_? Will he help us?” she had to ask because without him, they would struggle, but with him then they stood a very good chance of victory.

 **“This is below his standing, he will not assist us,”** that was both expected and disappointing, he only truly intervened when the _True Enemy_ was making headway against his master.

“I understand Sir,” she acknowledged with a bow, “I shall continue to try and guide Minaka along the correct path.”

 **“See that you do,”** and with that, the owner of the voice vanished and she found herself alone once again.

And to think, everything had been going so smoothly till now.


	3. Chapter 3

Naoki slowly opened his eyes as his sleep magic wore off.

He was quick to actually wake but that didn’t mean he wanted to get out of bed right now, after all, the consuming warmth of being covered in sheets was very comforting.

Normally he wouldn’t be able to feel that warmth due to always having Masakados burrowed in his skull but now that he was in Yuko’s house, he felt comfortable enough to do so.

The extra warmth that wasn’t normally next to him confused him though and he found himself looking to his side and remembering the previous day.

Yashima, the alien that had bonded with him as a… mate?  Lover?  He wasn’t really sure how to describe the bond… she was right there, wearing a rather simple set of white pyjamas as she practically snuggled up to him.

He almost sweatdropped at just how quickly she was doing things like that… especially given how she was supposed to be sleeping in another room all together.

Well, he wasn’t going to complain, the warmth of another was quite pleasant as far as he was concerned.

It would also be amusing to see how Pixie would react to the scene… well, either amusing or terrifying depending on just how pissed off she got, there _was_ a reason he considered her his most powerful subordinate after all.

It didn’t take long for him to move out from her grip and move to get changed, uncaring of the alien’s presence in the room.

Leaving the room he quickly made his way to the kitchen and noted the lack of presences that were currently awake, then again, it was still early, so he started to prepare breakfast.

Honestly, he was probably a significantly better cook than Yuko, mainly because he had had a few jobs in Diners all over the world and had ended up helping out around the kitchens on occasion, which resulted in him learning a few things, which resulted in him spending more time in the kitchen and learning more and then he’d end up in another café and occasionally have to help out in the kitchen which would result in him helping the chef more and the cycle continued.

Honestly, given all the different tricks he’d learned, he was probably close to a One Michelin Star chef in terms of skill… of course they were better than him since they dedicated their lives to their craft but he wasn’t far off.

“It smells like you’ve gotten even better at cooking since we last met,” the voice of his teacher called out and he gave a soft smile as he turned to face her.

“I’ve had a few more jobs that ended up with me cooking since we last met,” he admitted easily before turning back to the breakfast he was preparing, “how are you feeling?”

“I’m the one that should be asking you that,” she responded with a soft grin, “you are the one that’s bonded to a psychic alien after all.”

He couldn’t stop himself from give a soft laugh at that.

“Well, it’ll probably take some time to get used to it but it’ll be nice to have someone with human like emotions that can live on with me,” he admitted as his mind went back to its darkest place, the place where he knew Yuko was going to die within a few decades and he would live on for as long as it took for him to get himself killed.

“I hope things work out with her,” he could hear a hint of sadness in her tone as she made that claim and he didn’t need to be told why.

The simple fact was that Yashima could potentially do what she couldn’t… she could act as his human support for the rest of his life.

“Thank you,” he responded honestly, the fact that she was willing to support the situation despite the fact there was the issue of her being replaced really meant a lot to him, “and there is someone I would’ve rather been in this situation with.”

“I know,” he heard the cutlery clacking as she started to set out the table and he continued to cook breakfast.

“You’re making an awful lot today,” her statement wasn’t filled with any judgement or concern, clearly she was happy for him to make however much he felt he needed.

“You’ll see why when Yashima wakes up,” he informed her easily before setting out a plate for his old teacher, “here you go.”

“Thank you,” she responded as he continued his preparations for breakfast.

“Uh… that shmells sooo good,” he almost laughed upon hearing the voice of the alien that had chosen to sleep with him… to think that she couldn’t actually speak properly due to tiredness, he had always thought that sort of thing only happened in anime.

“Good morning Yashima,” he stated before piling up a plate for the bipedal black hole he had gotten the previous day, “here you go.”

The look of happiness that appeared on her face upon being presented the plate was obvious as she practically snatched it out of his hand with a quick ‘thank you’ before setting herself at the table and devouring the food with a quick cry of ‘itadakimasu’.

The expression that appeared on Yuko’s face upon seeing the alien eat was far more amused than surprised, then again, the thought that she hadn’t realized the alien had a higher metabolic rate than a human was just plain stupid given just how intelligent the woman was.

Eventually the alien seemed to finish eating her fill and he finished off the cooking with something significantly tamer than what she had consumed for his own breakfast.

“Naoki-sama, that was amazing!” the little brown haired girl stated with stars in her eyes when she was finally awake enough to do anything more than eat.

“It’s not that good,” he informed her with a blank expression, “I’ve met many different chefs that are on a whole other level to me.”

“But Naoki-sama’s food was soo good,” she seemed awfully chirpy now that she had tasted his cooking for the first time.

“Like I said, there are plenty of better chefs than me… I should know, I learned under them,” that seemed to make her blink before her softer smile returned.

“I think that Naoki-sama is being too harsh on himself,” she said easily as she watched him sit down with his own food.

“And I think you’ve never tried the food of a three Michelin star chef,” he responded bluntly.

“A what?” he had to laugh at that as he was reminded that the girl didn’t know that much about the world as a whole… but there was plenty of time to correct that.

“It’s a standard for restaurants, three stars are the highest and I don’t even rank at a one star,” that seemed to make her brain stop as she processed just how big a difference in quality there must be between the best the world had to offer and what he was providing her.

“So, Naoki-kun,” Yuko spoke up, breaking the amused grin that had spread across her face, “what do you plan on doing today?”

“Finding a job,” he admitted easily as he thought of how hard it had gotten to apply without raising too many questions in the interconnected age.

“It’ll be almost impossible to get a job with how you brushed off MBI,” her response made him think over the fact that MBI owned the entire city and now, he was probably going to have to deal with whatever restrictions that idiot of a director had decided to place on him.

 

XXX A DEVIL’S WINGS XXX

 

Minaka happily looked over the information he had gathered about Kashima Naoki as he watched Gabby Conway enter his office with a cup of coffee ready for his consumption.

“Minaka-sama, your coffee,” she said with her usual air of professionalism as she set the mug on his desk.

“Ah, perfect timing Conway-chan,” he said with his usual smile on his face, “I was just looking for some input.”

“Of course Minaka-sama,” he just knew she was going to regret those words when he told her just what he was going to ask.

“Bar or fire?” he asked without putting any context into his question, earning a confused blink from the woman.

“May you please explain what you are asking me?” she responded with obvious confusion and so he enlightened her.

“Kashima-san of course,” there it was, that fear was back, “should I bar him from taking any jobs or fire his old teacher?”

He saw the woman’s face crack a little at that as her eyes went into a full on panic at his explanation.

“Are you certain that is necessary Minaka-sama?” her voice was mostly calm but had an undercurrent of panic that he had never heard in it before.

Honestly it was quite amusing to see his normally completely composed secretary falling apart like she was but at the same time, he wasn’t aware of what she was capable of yet so he wouldn’t push her too far.

“Hmm… I suppose I could hold off on it for a little while, at least until the third stage,” he admitted with a casual shrug, “by that point though he’ll need to be put in line.”

He noted the conflicting emotions of relief and concern flooding her eyes as she bowed once again and took her leave for parts unknown… he however had his own matters to attend to.

 

XXX A DEVIL’S WINGS XXX

 

The day passed by like any other day he was settling down in a new area, with him going out, getting job interviews and performing the routine to appeal to the interviewer as much as possible.

He would admit that it had been awhile since he had been back in Japan but he was getting into the flow of things easily enough despite his last country of residence being The United Kingdom which had a very different philosophy on what you were supposed to do in an interview.

Still, at least he had more than enough experience to treat interviews with the same level of nervousness as he did waiting for a plane to depart.

So it was just another thing he did on a regular basis as far as he was concerned.

Walking back to Yuko’s house, he found his mind wandering once again, back to the idea of actually having a being with human like emotions that would be with him for the rest of his life… well, provided she wasn’t killed before then but that wasn’t particularly likely.

Arriving back at the house he was currently occupying, he opened the door before stalling when his ears picked up something he was not used to, especially given how Yuko was still at school now that the summer holidays had ended.

“Welcome home Ashikabi-sama,” he had to blink upon seeing Yashima sitting there, right in front of the door with a bright smile on her face.

“… Yashima… have you been waiting there all day?” he asked her with a blank expression on his face.

“N-no, you said your interviews finished at eleven and you’d probably be home by twelve,” she said with a blush creeping up her face, “s-so… I’ve only been waiting here about an… an hour.”

“Yashima, can you do something for me?” he asked her with a soft expression adorning his face.

“I’ll do anything you ask of me Ashikabi-sama!” she sounded enthusiastic as he mentioned giving her orders… he was pretty sure she was going to be disappointed with what he wanted.

“Don’t call me Ashikabi, don’t refer to me with sama or dono and don’t let your entire life revolve around me,” he said with a blank expression as he watched the alien girl’s face grow confused before it clearly became shocked by his request.

“W-w-what?” she sounded almost heartbroken and he realized he needed to make it clear to her exactly what he meant.

“Yashima, I don’t need you to be my Sekirei,” he stated easily and he could tell that tears were building up in her eyes, “what I need you to be, is my anchor, the person that will be with me forever and help me keep my humanity when everything else is gone.”

The tears seemed to halt at that and she seemed to focus on what he was saying with an intent he rarely saw in anyone.

“For you to take that role, you _can’t_ be subservient to me,” his statement made her eyes widen further, “I need you to act not as my servant, but as my equal, to question my decisions when they seem to be wrong, to treat me like a normal person, not a master… otherwise, I’m certain my humanity will corrode and I’ll be left as nothing more than a True Demon.”

That was his greatest fear, that he would forget the courage and drive that had led to him recreating the world as it was, to reviving everyone that was killed by that horrific event known as the Conception.

He was afraid he would finish walking down that path of Darkness, that he would reach the end of the Labyrinth and be unable to turn back.

“Can you do that for me Yashima?” he asked her firmly and he found those previously watery eyes closed before they opened with a steely determination within them.

“Hai Ashi… Naoki-kun,” she quickly caught herself as she gave her answer.

“Thank you Yashima,” he gave her a soft ruffle of her hair as he moved to the living room and made his way back to the computer, ready to search for any more job vacancies he could find.

“N-Naoki-kun…” he let his attention return to the Sekirei after she spoke up after several minutes.

“There’s no reason to be so nervous Yashima,” he said easily as he looked her in the eyes, “just say what you want to say… well, unless you’re going to try and promote a religion, then just know I’ve probably murdered whatever god you’re trying to get me to believe in.”

That seemed to elicit a small laugh from the brunette as she gave him the same nervous smile as before as she spoke.

“I-I’m hungry,” she sounded rather uncertain and he found himself releasing a sigh as he realized just what she was asking.

“All right, I’ll make you something to eat,” he acknowledged as he rose from his seat and made his way to the kitchen for the second time that day.

Time passed by quickly enough as he worked on making enough food for the voracious alien and himself and let his thoughts wander back to the concept of MBI basically distributing aliens among the general populace.

On one hand, the man was clearly being careless and creating some sort of competition between the aliens but on the other, he didn’t really care if the aliens were in his city as long as they didn’t cause too much trouble.

Eventually though, he set the table and put all the food he had made on top of it before calling Yashima over for their lunch.

“Itadakimasu!” the excitable young girl said with a joyful cry as she started to shovel the food into her mouth and he took a more sedate pace in his own consumption of sustenance.

Looking at the brown haired girl, he found himself dealing with conflicted emotions.

She was going to be with him for the rest of her life, she would be there to keep him grounded and keep his human heart intact… but in the end, she wasn’t Yuko and accepting her felt more difficult than it should.

“Uh, Naoki-kun,” he was once again interrupted from his thoughts by the little girl as she started to ask something else of him, “where is Pixie-san?”

“Dismissed,” he stated bluntly, “I don’t know where she is but she’s dismissed right now.”

“… Um… why don’t you call for her?” the alien girl was clearly confused by his reluctance to call his first demonic friend, so he decided to put it to her bluntly.

“Because if I call her, then we’re liable to learn what it feels like to be hit in the face by a small nuclear explosion,” he stated bluntly.

“What?  Why?” she sounded almost scared now.

“She gets jealous,” he informed her simply, wondering how she hadn’t noticed that from their previous encounter, “and you snuck into my bed last night… so right now, I would rather pick a fight with the Archangels than summon Pixie.”

That explanation seemed to make her nervous, then again, given the fact that Pixie probably would at least maim her for sneaking into his bed… he honestly didn’t blame her for being uncertain.

He shook his head as he removed the memories of what Pixie did when he had called Parvati his girlfriend… he was just thankful that death didn’t stick with natural demons.

In the end, he planned on leaving the little fairy alone until he found something for her to blow up instead of them… of course that would take quite some time but given what he knew of the world and how demons were far more common than people thought, he was confident he could eventually find something that could preoccupy the tiny fae.

Plus, if he left her long enough then she would probably cool off about Yashima and instead try and rip him a new one for leaving her for so long.

And despite how painful facing an irate Pixie might be, he at least knew she wouldn’t kill him, something he wasn’t too certain about when it came to Yashima.

“Is she really that dangerous?” he didn’t really blame Yashima for asking that question, after all, generally Pixies were some of the weakest demons around and their appearance reflected that.

However, that was what the species in general was like… and his pixie was most certainly not a normal representation of her race.

 “She ranks in the top ten most powerful beings I’ve met,” he stated bluntly, “so let’s put it this way… she’s strong enough to wipe the floor with at least three of the Archangels.”

The Sekirei seemed to be surprised by that claim, then again, it was hard to not judge that particular book by its cover… after all who would’ve thought that a pink book with fluffy edges was really a tome of eldritch horror and certain death?

“Really?  She doesn’t look that powerful,” Yashima seemed to require clarification so he decided to just be blunt with her.

“Generally Pixies are some of the weakest demons around,” he started, causing her to look at him curiously, “however due to circumstances and the blessing of Amala, my Pixie is exceptionally powerful despite her appearance being that of a regular member of her race.”

“Oh, I see,” the Sekirei responded with her head lowering as she clearly tried to process that information.

With that the conversation between the two stalled into a surprisingly uncomfortable silence, one that simply felt like more should be said but he just couldn’t figure out what more there was to say as he finished up his lunch before preparing himself to start searching the internet for more jobs he could apply for.

 

XXX A DEVIL’S WINGS XXX

 

Higa Izumi was not the most intimidating of men… if anything he was better described as a ‘pretty boy’.

That did not change the fact that he was the head of the Higa Conglomerate that had been at the forefront of medical and technological advancements since before he was born.

And then MBI had formed.

Hiroto Minaka was a man that Izumi considered his mortal enemy, an eccentric idiot that had managed to push technology and medicine beyond anything that had been seen before and in turn, destroy most of the market that the Higa Conglomerate had held a good share of.

Now his company was having to compete with the unreasonable advances made by the upstart in order to simply remain solvent and not be forced to declare itself bankrupt.

And then he had learned the truth.

Minaka wasn’t some genius inventor, he was just some delusional moron that had gotten lucky and come across an alien spaceship that he scavenged his technology from.

To make matters even worse, the white haired idiot had even sent those aliens out to ‘bond’ with people for some kind of tournament.

He didn’t know the legitimacy of this event and the so called prize, but the board of directors that had been chosen to help the company make the correct decisions had demanded that he participate when he had become one of those ‘Ashikabi’.

Of course he didn’t believe these ‘Sekirei’ were really his, they had been given out by MBI after all, so it was most likely that they were spies or saboteurs sent to finish off his company.

He wouldn’t allow that.

That was why he wouldn’t allow ‘his’ Sekirei to remain near him or roam any of his buildings freely.

He would not let Minaka win whatever war he was waging.

His attention was disrupted by the sound of his door opening but when he looked up he did not see what he was expecting to see.

His childhood friend Kakizaki had been his secretary since he could remember, there was no one he would trust with as much as he entrusted that man with.

What he saw however was most certainly _not_ his secretary.

Instead of the dark hair man that was unquestioningly loyal to him, there was an unnatural beauty, a woman with pitch black hair styled in a pompadour of all things with a figure that surpassed any supermodel he had seen despite the business suit she wore.

Because of that, he just knew this woman was a Sekirei.

“Where is my secretary?” he asked, he honestly hoped his childhood friend was safe but if Minaka had sent a new Sekirei to deal with him then there was no guarantee.

“He is simply taking a nap,” her response made him swallow nervously, after all, Kakizaki was a very diligent man who would never sleep on a job unless someone had done something to him.

“Tell me, who are you and why are you here?” he asked with as much confidence as he could muster.

“You may call me Yuriko,” the woman introduced herself as she took a seat opposite him, “and I am here because my master wishes to make you an offer.”

He found his eyes narrowing in distaste at that claim, the fact that Minaka thought making an offer through an intermediary would work was insulting as far as he was concerned.

“I don’t know what Minaka wants but,” he stopped upon feeling a crushing feeling of smallness as the woman before him suddenly looked far more dangerous than ever before.

“I do not work for that pawn,” he could literally feel the animosity coming from the woman as she continued to stare at him.

The part that caught his attention the most though was the wording she used to describe the owner of MBI.

“What do you mean by ‘Pawn’?” he asked, honestly he understood what she was saying but the thought of someone being behind Minaka and directing him wasn’t something he had considered before.

“Minaka is but an unwitting pawn in a much greater conflict,” her voice was clear and confident, “and my master is the enemy of those that control Minaka.”

“Then what do you want of me?” he asked, wondering just what he was getting himself into.

The smile the woman gave was chilling.

“I want you to help destroy the Sekirei Plan.”

 

XXX A DEVIL’S WINGS XXX

 

“I’m home,” Naoki found himself smiling upon hearing Yuko’s voice call from the front door, “Naoki-kun, can you give me a hand with the groceries?”

“Sure,” he immediately left the computer and walked over to meet his old teacher who was carrying a few bags of groceries into the kitchen.

“There are more in the Taxi, could you get them?” he gave her a nod of confirmation as he moved out of the house and through the front gate to see the taxi she had just mentioned.

He didn’t take long picking up all the remaining bags as the older woman left her house and walked towards the driver and paying for the fare after closing the back door as he took the bags into the house.

Upon placing the bags on the work surface, he proceeded to start putting everything away as he noted what he could make out of it all and whether or not it would be enough to feed Yashima.

“Ah, Naoki-kun, do you need any help?” the brown haired girl spoke up from the entrance to the kitchen just as he thought about that.

“No, I’m fine Yashima,” he answered easily as he finished putting everything in the right place.

“Umm… Naoki-kun,” she sounded hesitant again and he looked her way before asking.

“Are you hungry again?” it was the first thing he could think of but she shook her head in the negative.

“I… I wanted to ask you something,” she clarified and he found himself smiling in amusement.

“Yashima, I already told you to feel free to ask me anything,” he pointed out and she continued to look nervous as she opened her mouth.

“W-why don’t you call me chan?” he had to blink that that question as he realized that he tended to not use honorifics anymore.

“Uh, it’s not you,” he stated simply, “I’ve been in Western countries for quite some time and they don’t use honorifics like the people in this country normally do.”

“Haven’t you noticed that he doesn’t even call me by an honorific?” the young alien almost jumped as Yuko spoke up from behind her, “honestly since he got here I’ve only heard him call Pixie ‘chan’ and that was just to butter her up so she didn’t blow us up.”

“O-oh… I see,” her expression was downcast as she received that answer and he found himself internally coming to a decision.

“Is that everything you wanted to ask Yashima-chan?” it may not have come off his tongue without thinking about it but saying it did have a natural flow that he was certain he could get back into.

However, seeing the girl brighten up at his decision to call her that made any strangeness at using the term again obsolete.

“Y-yes Naoki-kun,” she sounded surprisingly happy but he came to the conclusion that since the species was paired off for life, simply being referred to affectionately was a rather important thing to her, “a-and um… th-thank you.”

He found himself distracted by Yuko as she smiled from behind the younger girl, obviously agreeing with his decision to take the hint.

“It’s fine Yashima-chan,” he responded as he thought about earlier, “you’re prepared to do what I ask of you, so it wouldn’t be fair if I didn’t do the same.”

That seemed to surprise the alien and she quickly responded in a completely natural tone.

“But I’m a Sekirei,” she said in a manner that made it sound like what she was saying was common sense, “it’s our nature to do what our Ashikabi tells us to.”

“And that’s not what I want,” he informed her seriously, “I want you to think about yourself instead of just me, I want you to have your own life outside of me.”

The uncertain way she looked away from him at that claim made it clear that what he wanted was something she was unsure she could deliver… but she had plenty of time to grow as a person and find her own interests beyond just doing what he wanted her to.

“But our Ashikabi are our life,” he found himself releasing a quiet sigh at that, “if they die then we die, if they are unhappy then we are unhappy.”

That point about them dying wasn’t something he recalled hearing before but it didn’t really surprise him, their bond seemed to be very important so it was only natural that the side effects would be powerful.

But it did make something clear to him as the words formed in his mouth.

“And I want to remain human,” he stated firmly, “and in order to do that, I need someone I can rely on to pull out that humanity and complete subservience will not help.”

It was important to him that he retained his humanity because if he didn’t… well, he _was_ ranked up in the highest tier of beings in existence so that could end _very_ badly for everyone.

“I… I think I understand Naoki-kun,” she still seemed hesitant but there was a certain steel in her voice that made it clear to him that she was going to do everything she could to keep him human, “I will do my b-best to become the woman you want me t-to be.”

“That’s all I ask,” he responded softly, “just try and gain a bit of confidence and find something you enjoy doing without me.”

She still looked rather down as he walked over to her and put a hand on top of her head in a friendly manner.

“Just relax,” he continued with a soft smile, “you’ve got plenty of time and I don’t plan on rushing you.”

Upon saying that, he idly wondered if he had come across as wanting her to change right now, because despite that not being his intention it could’ve very easily seemed that way.

“I-I see,” she seemed a little surprised by his statement which he internally groaned at… it seemed he _had_ been misinterpreted when it came to time frame.

“Did you think I wanted you to find something soon?” he decided to ask her bluntly, earning a nervous nod from the younger girl, “Yashima-chan, you should never rush trying to find something you enjoy.”

That seemed to make her relax a little so he decided to just point out what he wanted.

“I just want you to try things and if you find yourself enjoying it then take it up as a hobby,” he clarified before something else popped into his head, “except shopping, I can’t afford to support that hobby.”

That seemed to get a small laugh out of the light brown haired girl and he found himself smiling himself.

“Anyway,” he spoke up again, “are you hungry Yuko, Yashima-chan?”

“It would be nice to have something to eat,” the older of the women responded with a smile as Yashima nodded her own head in agreement before hesitating again.

“Naoki-kun…” she trailed off as her eyes moved away nervously, “w-would it be all right if… I mean… c-could you please teach me how to cook?”

“Sure thing Yashima-chan,” he answered easily, while he hadn’t expected her to try her hand at cooking, he wasn’t going to deny her that skill… besides, despite his skill at the art, he _was_ used to helping others so he most certainly was not territorial about the kitchen or who cooked his meals.

Just as long as she didn’t expect to prevent him from cooking anything himself then there wouldn’t be an issue.

“Well then, I will leave you two to it,” Yuko spoke up with a smile as she left the duo to their preparations.

 

XXX A DEVIL’S WINGS XXX

 

Sitting at the table, Naoki found himself thinking back on his time with Yashima preparing the food that was currently sitting before them.

Her confidence may have been low at the start of the lesson but it quickly grew at a rate that was hard to believe.

However, the times that her confidence seemed to grow the most was actually when she made a mistake and he corrected her… he guessed the fact that he was being as kind as he could when doing so was helping her come to terms with the idea that even if she messed up a little, he wasn’t going to abandon or shout at her.

It actually made him wonder just what had happened to her to cause her to suffer from such a nervous disposition.

“So Yashima-chan,” he started to speak after swallowing a piece of pork, “how do you feel about cooking so far?”

“It was nice,” she answered far more confidently than before but quickly looked down with a clear hint of unhappiness, “but it’s not as good as it was when you made it yourself.”

“That’s only natural,” he responded easily as he took another bite of the meal that was laid out before them, “I’ve probably been cooking since before you were born, so I’ve got far more experience than you do in the kitchen.”

The young alien didn’t get a chance to respond before he continued, “and trust me when I say this, I was nowhere near as good as you are right now when I first started.”

It was true, when he had first started cooking he had nearly started a fire… Yashima had done nothing close to that wrong on her first attempt at cooking.

“T-thank you,” she sounded almost flustered at his claim, then again, he was saying that she had more natural talent than he did, so her reaction was what seemed the most natural for her personality.

Dinner carried on as the group ate before a crash came from the place next door and Naoki found himself looking in the general direction of the house with the other Sekirei.

“Does your neighbour normally make that much noise?” he asked his old teacher who simply looked in the same direction as he was before responding.

“Not normally, Asama-san is generally very conscientious about how much noise is made,” Yuko answered calmly.

“Well, I suppose I’ll just leave it for now,” he dismissed the noise as he went back to his meal.

After all, regardless of what it was that had caused such a ruckus, he doubted it would be anything dangerous.

Besides, if it turned out that one of the tenants was practicing demon summoning then he’d at least get something for Pixie to take her frustration out on sooner rather than later.

 

XXX A DEVIL’S WINGS XXX

 

Minaka furrowed his brow as he processed the text he had just read on Shinto traditions of mysticism and finding nothing that could benefit his search for knowledge concerning what he was facing.

However, that was to be expected, he had no expectation of finding something so soon after he started on his research, especially when he had no idea what he was actually looking for in the first place.

“You look lost Hiroto Minaka,” a voice called out from behind him, causing him to turn to face whoever it was that had caught him during his new studies.

The figure was currently hidden in the shadows however that didn’t change the fact that he could clearly make out a pair of great, raven-like wings sprouting from its back.

“I take it that it is safe to assume you do not wish to kill me yet,” he stated as he came to the simple conclusion that if this being wanted him dead then he would most likely already be a corpse.

“That is correct,” the stranger said in a manner that made it clear they couldn’t be trusted.

“Then why are you here?  Are you going to try and keep me from finding out about whatever you and Conway-chan are?” he asked curiously as he turned to face his foe completely.

“No, I am simply here to offer guidance to a lost soul,” the shadowed stranger stated in that same tone.

“Really?  I honestly find that hard to believe,” Minaka admitted easily as he kept his eyes trailed on the winged stranger.

The stranger sounded almost amused before he spoke up once again.

“Search for the Kabbalah,” Minaka found himself focusing on that word, “that is where you will find what you are looking for.”

That was strange, however the head of MBI did not simply ignore the situation at large.

“And why would you help me?” it was the important question and the one that he just knew this stranger would either answer cryptically or not at all.

“Individuals can do foolish things when they are working off incomplete knowledge,” he closed his eyes as he tried to process that information before realizing that he didn’t have enough information to come to an answer.

However, when he opened his eyes, the stranger was nowhere to be found and he found himself more surprised at his lack of surprise than the fact that the stranger had vanished without a trace.

It looked like things were getting even more confusing… but he decided that it wouldn’t hurt to look up what had been recommended to him by the stranger.

And so he searched the term online before finding what he was looking for.

“Jewish Mysticism?” he raised an eyebrow before starting to read what he had just found.

Maybe he might just find out something that had been lost to him before then.


	4. Chapter 4

Kashima Naoki shifted as he found himself waking up much like he had the previous day.

With a warmth next to him that was quickly growing familiar.

It seemed that once again, Yashima had snuck into his bed in the middle of the night.

Honestly he was beginning to wonder if there was any point in going to sleep in different rooms given her tendency to do this.

Shaking his head, he repeated his actions from the previous day and easily escaped the alien's grip before getting ready for his day.

He had more job hunting to do after all.

Honestly he would like it if he received information back about his earlier interviews but he knew that such a thing would be outright unviable due to the simple fact that they would have to sort through everything they got from the applicants and determine who would actually get the job in the end.

It didn't take long for him to reach the kitchen after he had a quick shower, where upon he once again started to prepare a meal for the current residents of the house.

Time passed by quickly enough as he prepared for his walking black hole to wake up and eat them out of house and home once again but despite that, he also felt a certain trepidation.

He hadn't summoned Pixie the previous day and he was certain she would not be happy with that… especially given his current circumstances.

In the end, she had proven herself more than capable of jealousy when it came to Parvati… and he had absolutely no romantic relation with that goddess so how would she react concerning a being that had literally bonded all of their love to him and him alone?

Naoki soon found himself blinking at that thought.

Parvati…

With a click of his fingers he called forth the Hindu Goddess of Love, Devotion, Fertility, Divine Strength and Power.

"What is it you need… Kashima-sama?" those were the first words to escape the Deity as she manifested on the mortal plane for the first time in about… ten years, give or take.

Looking towards her he was once again greeted by the sight of a beautiful woman with pink hair that was mostly hidden by a gold and white headdress with Pink Lotus Blossoms decorating the sides.

The rest of her attire was what he would describe as stereotypical Indian clothing with a gold and red colour scheme and no footwear.

"Hello Naoki-sama, for what purpose do you require me?" the beautiful goddess spoke with a serene smile adorning her face… then again, she pretty much only ever showed that smile… the only other expression he'd ever seen her make was one that he was certain was shared by sadists everywhere.

"Parvati, have you ever heard of a species called 'Sekirei'," he asked the goddess who gave him a blank look.

"Of course I've heard of Wagtails," she sounded almost insulted but he shook his head.

"I don't mean the birds, I mean a species of aliens that psychically bond with people as mates," he clarified for her.

Silence reigned for several seconds as she continued to stand there with her serene smile still intact before finally speaking.

"Ah… I forgot about them," he blinked at that response, "yes, I do know of them."

"I thought so… do you have anything to do with them?" he decided to ask for clarification, the species seemed far too close to her in nature for him to dismiss the idea outright.

"I may be responsible for the creation of their bond," she admitted and he looked at her expectantly, "… they were an experiment… it failed to achieve the results I was looking for so I left them."

Well, that explained why the species reminded him of the goddess so much.

"And because they were a failure, you forgot about them," he concluded.

"Indeed," the pink haired woman answered without hesitation.

"Well… that's all I needed," the Hitoshura said calmly, "you're dismissed."

"Farewell Naoki-sama," and with that the woman disappeared in another vortex of purple lightning.

He found himself frowning as he thought over what he had learned and wondered how many Sekirei knew that they were essentially nothing more than the descendants of a group of discarded lab rats.

With a quick shake of his head, he once again turned his full attention to preparing the first meal of the day.

XXX A DEVIL'S WINGS XXX

Naoki found himself slightly put out as he ate breakfast with Yashima and Yuko.

Mainly because he discovered that Yashima wasn't happy that he hadn't woken her up and given her a chance to make breakfast.

It actually made him decide that it would probably be better if he got her up with him instead of trying to let her sleep in late.

He didn't like the thought of forcing her to wake up when he was the one with job interviews to worry about, but it would probably be better than upsetting her by not waking her up.

"Well, I'd better be off," he said as he rose from his seat after finishing his meal, "I don't want to be late for my interview after all."

"I hope it goes well for you," Yuko proceeded to say in response as she finished her own breakfast in preparation for her journey to work.

"Thank you," he knew he didn't need anyone's wishes but it was nice to get such a thing off the woman that knew him better than any other.

"H-have a good day Naoki-kun," he almost had to blink upon hearing Yashima speak up but quickly let a smile grace his lips.

"Thank you Yashima-chan," the dark haired man responded before recalling something, "while I'm away, could you try and find something you'd like to do?"

"Y-yes, Naoki-kun!" she sounded surprised by that but he simply gave her a smile.

"Well, see you later," and with that, he proceeded to leave the house and make his way towards the local train station in order to make his way into the city properly.

"Oh? Hello again Kashima-san," the voice of Asama Miya called out as he passed the neighbour's house, "you seem to be leaving rather early."

The woman was once again sweeping the front door of her Open House and Naoki found himself remembering something from the previous night.

"Oh yeah," he spoke up, catching the woman's attention, "I heard a loud noise coming from your house last night… I'd appreciate it if you kept everything within reason."

The woman suddenly looked rather put out as she released a sigh.

"I apologize for any disturbance caused by my new tenants," she answered solemnly, "they somehow managed to forget to put on their parachutes when going skydiving."

He could do little more than stare blankly before sighing in response.

"I'm not even going to ask," which was true, he was pretty sure from the horrendously poor excuse that at least one of the new tenants was a Sekirei… or a witch, you never really knew what witches were going to do, especially if they had just recently started training.

"Well, I've got a train to catch," he finally decided to end the conversation before they really started talking and proceeded to make his way along the street.

"Oh? Then I shouldn't keep you any longer," and without anything said further, the woman proceeded to continue sweeping the front porch.

Now, he just had to make sure he made it for the interview.

XXX A DEVILS WINGS XXX

Asama Miya watched as her neighbour's visitor walked along the street.

When she had first seen him she had assumed he was just some high school child and hadn't really considered anything more than that.

Then she had witnessed the members of the Disciplinary Squad harassing the boy.

She had seen him easily dismiss them and had assumed he was ignorant about the power of the Sekirei and prepared to interfere.

She had been caught by surprise when the pink haired feather had lashed out at him and failed to react in time… honestly, she had expected a member of the Disciplinary Squad to have a little more… discipline.

The following scene however, was what had cemented in her mind that this boy wasn't normal.

The punch that had struck him was strong enough to leave an audible crack and he hadn't even flinched until the revelation that the Sekirei had managed to break her hand attacking him.

She had quickly chosen to interfere before the situation got any more serious but she was left wondering if even she would be capable of defeating this boy if they ever fought.

She would like to believe that she could but seeing him completely ignore the punch of a Sekirei proved he was far beyond human… or even a typical Sekirei.

The situation had left her concerned about him and she knew one person who was more than capable of finding what she wanted to know.

Sekirei Number Zero Two, Matsu.

What she had found was surprising to say the least.

Thirty-five years old.

No wonder he had simply dismissed her question about how old he was as 'old enough to make my own decisions'.

She would've thought the Kashima Naoki Matsu had discovered was wrong, except she had found an old school picture that showed he hadn't aged a day in the past twenty years.

And her neighbour was also in that picture, though clearly much younger than she was now.

But despite all of that, Matsu had failed to find a single detail that would explain how the boy had so much as survived the punch of a Sekirei, let alone been so completely unfazed by it that he actually apologized to his aggressor for breaking their hand.

Releasing a sigh, she continued to sweep the porch, she had no answers concerning this man and she also had to deal with a new set of residents in the form of the clearly impressionable young man named Sahashi Minato and Sekirei Number Eighty-Eight Musubi.

The idea that she was getting to tor- _chastise_  the young son of Minaka Hiroto was actually something she found great pleasure in even if the boy was clearly nothing like either of his parents.

In the end, he seemed like a good enough kid but she had always had a certain vindictiveness inherent in her nature and satiating it by picking on the son of a man she hated was not beyond her in any way, shape or form.

It would also be interesting to see if Musubi would be capable of surpassing her… from the little bit of training they'd done earlier she found it unlikely but there was a possibility she might.

Shaking her head clear of those thoughts, she continued to sweep the area… it did give her a reasonable excuse to eavesdrop on her neighbours after all.

XXX A DEVIL'S WINGS XXX

Naoki gave a bored glance around the café he was entering as he considered the job that had been advertised here.

It wasn't really anything special, just a simple kitchen job that would require assisting the chef and would probably include washing dishes as well.

Honestly it seemed like a nice enough little place in a relatively busy section of the city, so it was likely that it would get quite a bit of traffic throughout the day.

Clearing his head of those thoughts, he quickly made his way to one of the waitresses that was currently standing behind the counter.

"Excuse me," he spoke up, attracting the young woman's attention, "my name is Kashima Naoki, I'm here for an interview."

"Ah, Kashima-san," the woman spoke up with some nervousness clear in her tone, "the manager is currently interviewing another candidate… would it be possible for you to wait a little while?"

"That's fine, the interview wasn't supposed to be for another half an hour so I was expecting to have to wait," he admitted with an easy smile gracing his lips.

"Well, if you need anything just let me know," the woman still seemed nervous with short breaths and a faint blush starting to appear on her face…

He almost felt like palming his face as his mind immediately made a connection he wasn't sure he wanted it to make.

Looking at her name badge he proceeded to test the waters to see if his suspicion was right.

"So, Saki-san right?" he spoke out conversationally, earning a nod off the admittedly rather attractive woman, "do you have any interests?"

"A few," she admitted with a surprisingly beatific smile, "you?"

"Well, I've some interest in bird watching," he said with a shrug, "especially Wagtails."

He noted the way her breath hitched at that claim and he felt himself deflate at the clear sign that she understood what he was getting at.

This woman was a Sekirei.

It was definitely not surprising to him, what with how she had a shocking well-proportioned physique, long brown hair that seemed to naturally spike in random directions in such a way that it actually made her look even  _more_ appealing… and then there was also her face that looked like it belonged on a Super Model.

"Oh, do you have any Wagtails at home?" she proceeded to speak up and he answered easily.

"I have one, have seen a few though," he admitted easily.

"Are you interested in getting another?" it was a simple question and given the way she seemed to be reacting to him, he was inclined to believe she was talking about herself.

"I don't know," it was a simple answer, "owning a Wagtail is a massive commitment after all."

"Well, if you ever decide you're interested in another… feel free to give me a call," Saki proceeded to say before giving him a piece of paper with a phone number on it.

"I'll be sure to do so," he admitted as he pulled out his wallet and put the piece of paper in it, "anyway, I guess I should make an order shouldn't it?"

And with that, he prepared himself for the wait leading up to the interview as he considered the idea of getting another alien lover that would be with him for eternity.

XXX A DEVIL'S WINGS XXX

Sahashi Minato couldn't stop himself from releasing a sigh as he processed his current situation.

He had been kicked out of his apartment, had failed his University entrance exam for the second time in a row, had his allowance cut by his mother… honestly everything seemed like it was going against him.

Even the beautiful girl that had practically fallen on his lap was proving to be trouble given her complete inability to understand basic concepts such as modesty or common sense.

And then there was the fact that this girl was the main reason for the problems that had piled onto him on top of his failure to pass the University Entrance Exam.

At least he was now at an Open House and didn't have to worry about being evicted because of Musubi… again.

Still, at least things were starting to look up, what with how he and Musubi had finished packing his things for the move… it was honestly rather ridiculous that all the things they were taking were his yet she was the one carrying the excessively large sack.

Sure he was carrying a sports bag and a suitcase but it didn't change the fact that she was carrying far more than he was.

Walking along the street, he was grateful that there weren't that many people that could see them walking along like this, after all, not only would it be embarrassing for his masculinity (well, what was left of it anyway) but it might also cause some suspicion in anyone sharp enough to consider just how heavy Musubi's sack would be.

Passing by a train station, his attention was drawn by what was clearly a High School Student leaving and stepping onto the same street he was currently walking along.

What made this kid noteworthy though was the way he looked at them with a raised eyebrow before walking towards them.

"Good afternoon," the stranger said easily.

"Ah, hello!" Musubi seemed pretty enthusiastic about this stranger talking to them but he found himself growing nervous at the implications of this conversation.

"Am I right in thinking you're Asama-san's new tenants?" that question was both surprising but also something he decided was much easier to answer.

"Ah, yes, we're just moving in today," he answered with a certain amount of relief.

"I see," the boy seemed to think for a few seconds before returning his attention to them, "well, I won't keep you any more… but a few words of advice, humans can't carry that much so easily and I'd appreciate it if you didn't do anything too destructive."

Minato found his breath hitch at the casual way this boy made that claim… there was no way he didn't realise something was up but didn't seem to be interested in digging any further.

"Ah, but Musubi isn't human," he jerked his head towards the busty alien when she outright admitted that to this stranger.

"I know, but you really shouldn't be so careless about giving out such information," the teen answered easily, "it can lead to really big problems in the future."

"Y-you know?" he couldn't stop himself from swallowing nervously at that claim.

"Yeah… if my guess is right then you're an Ashikabi too right?" the boy said easily, causing him to gape in shock at the fact that apparently this boy was also a member of this Sekirei plan.

"Y-yeah…" he couldn't stop himself from blinking in surprise… especially knowing that there was a chance this boy might end up fighting him some day.

"Really?!" Musubi sounded excited now, "then that means there is an opponent to fight!"

"No," Minato didn't get a chance to speak before this stranger responded firmly and without hesitation, "I don't know what that idiot of a CEO is trying to do but I will have no part in it."

Minato couldn't stop himself from wondering, just why this boy was so firm about this situation.

"Uh… your Sekirei… what is she to you?" well, he at least assumed this stranger's Sekirei was female, but found himself wondering if he might be wrong.

"You wouldn't understand even if I told you," the boy said calmly, "but to put it in layman's terms… important."

He honestly didn't like what this boy was implying, the idea that he wouldn't understand what this kid meant despite being in the same situation was actually rather insulting.

"Hey! I'm older than you," he called the younger boy out on that but earned little more than a wry grin off the stranger.

"Age is irrelevant," the teen said easily, "our situations are  _very_ different."

Minato didn't really see why their situations were different but decided it would probably be best if he just dropped this situation.

"Ah, sorry… I forgot to introduce myself," he decided to try and change the subject, "Sahashi Minato, it is nice to meet you…"

He left an opening for the teen to introduce himself as he held out his hand for a handshake that was quickly accepted.

"Kashima Naoki," the teen answered easily, "likewise."

"So… uh, what school do you go to?" he decided to ask Kashima-san in hopes of getting a better idea of the person who clearly knew his new landlady.

"None, I graduated," the answer he received was enough to make him stall… he hadn't expected such an answer after all.

"Early graduation?" he decided to ask for confirmation only to receive a shake of denial.

"I'm older than I look," the boy answered easily, causing him to frown.

"Uh, then how old are you?" he decided to ask.

"Old enough," it was a rather evasive answer and he found himself once again frowning at the younger boy.

He was definitely not getting friendly vibes off this person.

Silence reigned as they continued their walk towards Izumo House, Minato found himself wondering if this teen lived in the neighbourhood or something given his current direction.

"Ah, Kashima-san," he decided to speak up, "where do you live?"

"Right now, directly next door to the place you're staying," well, that explained why he knew Asama-san.

"Oh, I guess that makes us neighbours," he stated the obvious and found himself reprimanding himself for making such an inane statement.

"I know," Kashima-san stated bluntly, "just try not to cause a ruckus like last night again… or do anything worse."

Minato found himself blushing at that claim as he considered just what this boy meant by 'worse'.

"I… I'll be careful," he simply said in hopes that the boy wouldn't go into any greater detail.

Besides, as long as no one found out then there wasn't a problem… right?

Eventually, he found himself outside his new residence as he tried to centre himself in preparation for the start of his new life.

"Well, I'll probably see you later Sahashi-san," Kashima spoke up as he continued onwards, "just keep my advice in mind when you're walking around with that girlfriend of yours."

He found himself blushing at the way the boy made that claim before shaking his head clear once again.

He guessed it wasn't really too far from the truth if what Musubi had told him was true.

And so he proceeded to finally make his way into the house as an official resident.

XXX A DEVIL'S WINGS XXX

Naoki had to admit, Sahashi Minato seemed pretty pathetic.

Not a bad kid but he clearly lacked the confidence to excel in anything… he hoped the kid could find his core and build up some confidence but he wouldn't put any money on it given the age the kid seemed to be.

He hoped the kid would take at least some of his advice and not get himself busted by MBI for carelessness but given how that 'Musubi' seemed to act he found the likelihood of that happening relatively slim.

It made him incredibly happy that Yashima seemed to have a level head on her shoulders and that that Saki girl seemed more than capable of being subtle and getting hints… he was pretty sure that that conversation would've been completely different if she had been even remotely like Musubi.

Making his way back to the house, he proceeded to open the door and walk inside.

"I'm home," he called out and was immediately greeted by the light brown haired Sekirei he had winged just a couple of days ago.

"Welcome home Naoki-kun," the shy Sekirei responded as she entered the hallway with a kitchen knife in her hand.

"Have you been trying to cook something yourself?" he asked her easily, earning an uncertain expression from the girl as she look away but nodded in confirmation anyway, "that's good."

Her posture seemed to relax at his response and he proceeded to lightly ruffle her hair affectionately.

"I'm looking forward to trying it," he said, causing her previously relieved expression to transform into one of eagerness as her eyes brightened even more.

"Yes Naoki-kun," she responded happily, "I'll just get back to it… I… I should be done soon."

And with that she proceeded to make her way back to the kitchen and he found a smile tugging at his lips.

It was good to see her gaining confidence so quickly and he was going to do everything he could to help nurture that confidence.

The real question was how the conversation about Saki would turn out.

He hoped learning about another Sekirei that he might potentially wing wouldn't damage her confidence but he hoped the way he was going to go about things wouldn't cause any problems.

Releasing a sigh, he moved towards the computer as he prepared himself to once again continue his search for work.

XXX A DEVIL'S WINGS XXX

Naoki had to admit, he was impressed at the meal Yashima had cooked for him, sure it wasn't the most complicated food out there, being little more than a curry, but he could tell that she had put her heart into it.

"Well… I can safely say that I'm impressed," he told her honestly, "coming home to a hearty homemade meal isn't something I was expecting."

The smile he received was small but definitely worthy of being considered radiant even if she wasn't looking directly at him… he was certain she was embarrassed given the blush that was colouring her cheeks.

"T-thank you Naoki-kun," she was definitely happy that much was clear and he continued to eat the meal she had obviously taken great care to make him.

"I'll be honest," he started to say, causing her to look at him with a certain level of trepidation, probably due to the way he started, "I wasn't expecting you to develop the confidence to try this yourself so quickly."

She started to look away in a clearly embarrassed manner.

"It makes me happy," he continued, earning another expression of surprise off the girl, "that your confidence is growing so quickly lets me know you feel comfortable around me."

The alien girl took a deep breath before looking him in the face and saying something that made him smile.

"T-that's because you're always being kind to me," she sounded convicted in her reason despite the clear embarrassment she felt at admitting this, "even when I mess up you never yell, you never get angry… you just let me know what I did wrong and tell how to do it right."

He found her explanation understandable but he needed to clarify something.

"Why would you think it would be any different?" he asked her.

"W-well… my adjustor had a pretty bad temper…" she responded while looking away.

He wasn't sure what she meant by adjustor but he assumed it had something to do with her time at MBI.

"Do you want me to find them for you?" he asked her easily.

"T-that's fine," she sounded almost worried, "they had a bad temper but they weren't a bad person."

He nodded his acceptance of her explanation, clearly she didn't hold a grudge or anything like that but he was going to have words with her adjustor if he ever knowingly met them.

He wouldn't hunt them down but he would give them a piece of his mind for making Yashima so nervous to begin with.

It didn't take long for him to finish his meal and he looked at the clock… it would still be about an hour before Yuko returned from work.

He supposed that meant they wouldn't be interrupted provided the conversation didn't become  _very_ lengthy.

So he decided it was time to bite the bullet.

"Yashima-chan," he started, drawing the attention of the young Sekirei, "we need to talk."

He realised that that may not have been the best way to phrase it when she started to look worried so he decided to continue.

"It's nothing you need to worry about," he clarified for her, "it's just that I have a big decision to make that will affect the rest of  _our_  lives… so I wanted you to have some input."

That statement seemed to calm her down somewhat as she opened her mouth to respond.

"And don't say that you're a Sekirei and that you'll do whatever I say," he cut her off, causing her to blush in embarrassment, "if anything, this affects you more than me so your feelings are what's important."

She looked down at that claim of his, clearly she was still having some trouble getting used to his refusal to accept her subservience.

"S-so what do you need to talk about?" Yashima spoke up and Naoki took a breath and decided to simply be blunt about it.

"I met another Sekirei today," he closed his eyes, "she seemed to be reacting to me."

"Really?! That's wonderful!" he opened his eyes in surprise at her clearly enthusiastic reaction to learning that she may very well have another Sekirei trying to bond with him.

"Y-you seem happy?" he half asked as he tried to process why she'd be acting this way.

"Of course," she nodded in agreement, "we Sekirei are beings of love… to know that there is at least one more Sekirei who will be winged by someone as kind as you is relieving."

"Relieving?" that particular word caught his attention.

"Yes… I… I'm worried that some of my kind might find cruel Ashikabi…" she admitted and he suddenly started to understand why she was so happy.

"You love your species don't you?" he asked for confirmation and she nodded in response.

It wasn't something he'd expected… he'd expected hesitance, uncertainty or perhaps a reluctant acceptance or outright refusal... but he'd clearly underestimated the young woman before him.

"All right then," he spoke up and Yashima seemed to suddenly realise just how overt she'd been just then and blushed and looked away, "then it's decided."

"W-what's decided?" she asked him curiously.

"The whole point of this conversation was to determine whether I would wing her or not," he told her easily, "I didn't want to wing her if you weren't happy with it."

The look of surprise on her face quickly gave way to a small smile.

"Thank you Naoki-kun," she sounded honestly happy with the knowledge that he'd just given her, "but to know that my sisters are happy is something I can't feel unhappy about."

He nodded in acceptance before rising from his seat and pulling out his wallet to get at the phone number he'd been given by the Sekirei that worked at that Café.

He immediately prepared his phone and put in the number before calling.

The line rang several times before it was answered.

" _Hello, this is Saki, who is this?"_  her voice called out over the phone.

"Hello Saki-san, this is Kashima Naoki," he said in response.

" _Ah, Kashima-san… have you made up your mind about me?"_ she sounded nervous and he gave a brief smile as he made his response.

"Yes, my first Sekirei is very much in favour of winging you," he admitted easily.

" _Why does that matter?"_ she sounded almost confused at his claim.

"Well, it was up to her if I winged you or not," he admitted easily, "after all, I didn't want to hurt her by winging you without asking her first."

Silence seemed to fall over the line at that claim.

"Hey, Saki? Are you still there?" he asked with some concern.

" _Ah, yes, sorry… I was just surprised that there was an Ashikabi that cared to ask their first Sekirei about winging more,"_ she definitely sounded surprised but quickly continued,  _"so, where should we meet?"_

Naoki didn't think as he clicked his fingers and summoned Pixie.

"Pixie, can you go and pick up the girl on the other end of this line," he asked her easily before stalling.

Oh shit.

He'd just unleashed Pixie on the world after sleeping in the same bed as Yashima and then not summoning her for nearly two full days.

"Yes… Na-o-ki-sa-ma," the little fairy responded with clear anger in her tone as she used the honorific Sama… which with her was already a sign she was pissed… but also spoke each syllable clearly.

He was dead.

" _Uh, Kashima-san what is ah! What the?!"_ the voice on the other end asked in confusion before shock seemed to permeate it.

"Hell!" almost immediately her voice was next to him and he found himself turning to see a clearly shocked Saki on the ground and Pixie wearing a 'I am going to murder you in the most brutal way I know of and then resurrect you just so I can do it again' smile… and given just how creative she could be with death… it wasn't a good sign.

"Uh… th-thank you Pixie-chan…" he knew that trying to butter her up right now was an exercise in futility but he'd rather try it than deal with her in this state.

"Na-o-ki-sa-ma… why have you not summoned me for  _two bloody days_?!" she asked him while simultaneously letting lightning crackle around her hand… it made him regret not re-equipping Masakados before doing this.

"Because I was afraid you'd do this," he stated bluntly, earning a twitch of the little red-head's eye.

"And what made you think I'd do this before?" she asked him with a dangerously calm tone.

"Well… the fact that Yashima snuck into my bed," he admitted knowing this was going to get him blown up at least somewhat.

"… grhh!" she was definitely angry, "Naoki-sama! I have accepted that!"

He had to blink before staring dumbly at her.

"I have accepted that that girl will sleep with you! I don't  _like_ it, but I have accepted it!" she sounded frustrated as she made that claim, "just like how right now, I accept that you're going to get another… just… just don't forget about me."

He could do little more than look at the little lady that had helped him out when he was still a fresh demon and noticed that her fury had given way to something that made him feel significantly worse.

Tears.

It was something he had never seen from the normally rather playful demon and it hit him that it was  _his fault_.

"I'm sorry, I didn't forget about you, I was just scared you'd be a little too angry to control yourself," he said to her as he reached out a hand and cupped the little demon in his hand and proceeded to lightly hug her against his chest.

"Wh-wha-what is going on?" Saki spoke up as she finally seemed to process everything.

"Saki, let me introduce you to Pixie," he said nodding down towards the little demon that was currently in his hand, "she's one of my oldest friends."

The alien that was unfamiliar with the fairy could only point and stare in disbelief.

"B-but fairies aren't real!" she exclaimed, clearly she was far more normally raised than Yashima had been.

"What, you think only aliens are real?" he asked her with a raised eyebrow, "the truth is that you'll find that pretty much all mythology has at least some grain of truth to it… usually the deities at least."

She seemed to swallow nervously at that claim.

"W-why are you so calm?" she asked him in clear disbelief.

"Well… let's just say that most aren't a threat to me," he said easily, "so… do you still want to be winged by me?"

She seemed to blink a few times before swallowing clearly nervous at the current situation.

"Y-yes," she eventually responded.

"All right then," and with that he knelt down to where she was currently still lying before taking her jaw in his hand and preparing to give her the kiss that would seal her fate to his, "this is going to hurt."

"What?" before she could finish her sentence their lips met and he felt his power being drawn into her just like Yashima.

The scream of pain was also something he had already prepared himself for along with the black wings of demonic power and the tattoo like veins of power that spread across her body.

Looking at Yashima he noted the way she looked distressed over the pain her 'sister' was in and he just spoke out to her.

"The same thing happened to you," it was true and he knew that Saki would recover just as well as Yashima had.

"W-what about the neighbours?" the light brown haired Sekirei asked nervously.

"I already set up a barrier to prevent any noise from escaping," the tired call from the blue clad fair came from within his hand.

"Thank you Pixie," he said in response to that statement by the winged demon as the winging ritual started to calm down.

"You were expecting it," she answered him easily as she started to rise away from his hand, "and I'd be a pretty bad minion if I didn't do what I was supposed to."

"You're not a minion," he told her with a smile, "despite me being a bit of an insensitive asshole at times, you are my friend."

"Well… you're going to have to explain to the teacher why there is another alien in her house," the redhead pointed out and he found himself releasing a sigh at the thought of how much money he'd have to spend to feed  _another_ Sekirei.

"I'm going to go bankrupt before the year is out aren't I?" he muttered rhetorically as he proceeded to move the unconscious alien to a more comfortable location.

XXX A DEVIL'S WINGS XXX

Higa Izumi could do little more than think as he looked at the object before him.

It was his mobile phone.

What was wrong though was the program that had been installed on it by that Yuriko woman.

He didn't trust her but unfortunately he had been unable to dig up any information on her at all… not even Kakizaki's Sekirei, number twenty-two, Kochō, had been capable of digging up even a single scrap of information on the woman that had waltzed into his office like it was nothing.

So he continued to look at the program on his phone, uncertain of whether he could open it or not… she claimed that she was against Minaka and the people backing him but he didn't know that and given that he couldn't find anything on her, he just  _knew_ she needed to have had a Sekirei remove all traces of her existence.

Clenching his fist, he slammed it down before giving into the temptation despite his better judgement, pressing the icon currently located on his phone as the application was opened to him.

Immediately he was forced to cover his eyes as his screen glowed impossibly bright before his brain was frozen by what he heard next.

"Oh… so you're my new master," the voice was feminine and clearly young, "hn, how adorable."

Opening his eyes, he faced the owner of the voice and found his eyes widening in shock at what he saw.

Now he knew without a doubt that he was in over his head.

"So… when do we start  _master_."

**Author's Note:**

> And that's it for the first chapter.  
> Not entirely sure how this system works yet since this is my first time posting here.  
> But I guess I can learn as I go.  
> For now, Shadow out.


End file.
